As the global landscape evolves, the manufacturing industry faces new challenges and opportunities.
Integrating artificial intelligence tools into manufacturing processes promises greater efficiency and innovation, but opens the door to evolving cyber threats targeting vulnerable supply chains.
Supply chains form the backbone of the manufacturing industry and are closely intertwined with daily life. Disruptions can have a profound impact on consumers, as evidenced by baby food shortages in 2022. Increasing cyberattacks threaten manufacturing industries worldwide, and risk increases as supply chains expand.
Cybersecurity is increasingly becoming a matter of industrial continuity. As factories, digital workflows and integrated value chains become increasingly interconnected, the most pressing question is: is the world prepared to protect its growing industrial base?
When code can lock a treadmill
Cyber threats have evolved beyond data theft. Today, they cripple production, infiltrate operational technology, infect industrial control systems and weaponize disruption.
The destination is not always the server room, but often the production room. As the digital and physical worlds converge, cybersecurity is now expanding to all connected devices, operating systems and edge environments, making operations technology (OT) a primary focus.
Think of it this way: Ten years ago, protecting your home meant locking the front door. Today, every device with smart locks, cameras and connected devices creates a new vulnerability. The same is true for manufacturers: every connected machine or sensor is a potential entry point for attackers.
More recently, in May 2025, Nucor, one of the largest steel producers in the United States, discovered a cyber security breach that forced the company to shut down multiple production lines at multiple locations.
Today, a cyber breach is not just an IT problem. This is a business crisis with far-reaching consequences that affect people in their daily lives.
The rise of smart production brings new cyber risks
The rapid adoption of automation and robotics is taking the manufacturing industry to new heights, but it is also expanding the cyber threat landscape. For example, Amazon has deployed 750,000 industrial robots over the past decade and their use continues to grow rapidly in the United States.
Each connected device increases efficiency, but also introduces new vulnerabilities. Protecting information and infrastructure is now important to maintain business continuity.
A Dragos report shows that ransomware attacks against industrial companies have increased by 87% in the past year alone, with average ransomware payouts in the manufacturing sector reaching $1.5 million.
Industry 5.0: where cyber resilience is the key to progress
In an era characterized by Industry 5.0, where human-centered innovation, automation and sustainability meet, cyber security must be integrated into the industrial architecture itself. Cyber security is not insurance; It’s a skill. The one that guarantees availability, protects trust and protects progress.
From reactive to resilient
Industrial resilience means creating an unbreakable foundation that supports operational and IT security. A strong network supports supply chain integrity, ensures production continuity and mitigates risks before escalation occurs.
For example, a large European bakery solved connectivity problems by implementing an SDWAN solution, avoiding long-term outages and ensuring centralized infrastructure management across 12 production sites.
This approach reduced downtime, enabled uninterrupted access to critical production systems and optimized security monitoring.
This centralization not only improved operational efficiency, but also improved the level of security by simplifying network monitoring, traffic control and failover processes. With virtually no downtime, the network ensured uninterrupted access to SAP-based production systems critical to order, recipe and inventory management.
Proactive measures like these will determine the future of the manufacturing sector. Here are the most important steps that the industry should prioritize:
- Prioritize large-scale OT security assessments Systematic identification of vulnerabilities is critical in any operational environment. To ensure the full coverage and scope of these assessments, security leaders must establish an assessment framework that includes existing and next-generation systems to identify vulnerabilities that could lead to potential threats.
- Integrating supply chain integrity with AI-powered cyber defense: Cyber hygiene should be a key indicator when assessing suppliers. By controlling third-party permissions during maintenance and implementing robust access control through threat detection, monitoring and response, organizations can minimize threat exposure.
- Uses Zero Trust and SASE architectures by default Each identity, device, and application must verify its legitimacy before accessing it. Implementation of Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) frameworks ensure security regardless of user or application location.
- Turn cyber risk into a management action: Security must be defined in operational terms (production disruption, reputational damage and subsequent disruption) and not just in terms of data breaches. IT leaders can strengthen management alignment by translating security risks into operational impact and measuring and reporting KPIs such as production disruptions, reputation damage or customer losses, while maintaining a focus on real business results.
Secure the future of manufacturing
In a hyper-connected world, the security of supply chains will determine the success and resilience of the manufacturing industry. Cyber resilience should be considered a critical infrastructure for industrial growth.
America’s ability to secure smart factories, digital supply chains and connected ecosystems will affect not only its economic growth, but also its global operations. In a hyper-connected economy, resilience is power.
We need to change our mindset and see cyber security not as technical protection, but as essential industrial infrastructure. The need for this transformation is now.