Dive Brief:

• Manufacturing companies consider cybersecurity their third most significant risk, trailing only inflation and economic growth, according to a report released Wednesday by Rockwell Automation.
• More than half of manufacturers said securing their operational technology (OT) assets is a primary factor in their technology investments. In addition, almost two-thirds of manufacturers have adopted a security platform for their operational technology, while another one-third plan to deploy such a program over the next five years.
• More than six in 10 cyber or IT professionals at manufacturing companies plan to adopt AI or machine learning to improve security over the next 12 months, the report showed.

Dive Insight:

The report demonstrates how manufacturers have begun taking cyber risk far more seriously as an overall business priority in recent years. The change in approach is due to the growing sophistication of ransomware and the significant nation-state threats facing critical manufacturing companies. 

The 2021 ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline and the 2023 social engineering attack on Clorox highlighted how such risks can have serious consequences at multibillion-dollar companies. 

The Colonial Pipeline attack disrupted fuel supplies in the southeast part of the U.S. for nearly a week, while the attack on Clorox, linked to the cybercrime group Scattered Spider, resulted in a $380 million lawsuit against the company’s IT-services provider. 

“There is no doubt that the cyber risks are increasing in OT environments, and the cyber-physical nature of these risks greatly increases what is at stake,” Katell Thielemann, VP distinguished analyst at Gartner told Cybersecurity Dive. “Whether we’re talking about nation-states with geopolitical ambitions, ransomware efforts increasingly targeting manufacturers, malware specifically designed for industrial controls or the fast-growing list of industrial vulnerabilities disclosed by CISA — OT/CPS cyber risks are only growing.”

A report released Thursday by Dragos shows that manufacturing experienced the most ransomware attacks in the second quarter. Dragos identified 657 ransomware incidents targeting industrial sectors globally during the quarter, and manufacturers were affected in two-thirds of those incidents.

The Rockwell Automation report, conducted in partnership with Sapio Research, is based on a survey of 1,560 respondents from 17 of the world’s top manufacturing countries. The companies represent sectors including food and beverage, packaged goods, automotive and energy.