Manufacturing Cybersecurity Threats Sharply Grew in 2024

Industry 4.0 is driving the convergence of IT and OT within global manufacturing, offering benefits such as increased profitability, enhanced visibility of real-time data and insights, improved production processes and better quality control.

The pace of this transformation continues to accelerate – in the US, Latin America and Europe, 70% of OT systems in manufacturing companies are expected to be connected to corporate IT networks, up from 50%.

In Asia and Oceania, progress is advancing at a similarly rapid pace.

From both a technological and operational standpoint, Industry 4.0 technologies such as cloud computing, IIoT, AI, wireless technology and edge computing remain critical for manufacturers.

The increased adoption and application of technology significantly broadens the potential attack surface for malicious actions, leaving manufacturers more vulnerable to cyber attacks across their core operations.

Telstra International, in partnership with Omdia Research, has explored this more complex and challenging landscape, revealing that few firms are sufficiently mature in protecting themselves against cyber risks.

Security responsibilities are unclear and that a lack of skilled personnel is hindering security effectiveness.

IT-OT convergence continues to expand threat landscape

Omdia surveyed more than 500 global technology executives regarding the convergence of IT and OT in their core operations and how they are managing cybersecurity challenges.

The research indicates that the manufacturing sector remains a prime target for threat actors, including criminal affiliates, nation-states and cyber criminals seeking to exploit critical operations through cyber extortion.

Four in five, or 80%, of respondents reported a significant increase in overall security incidents or breaches over the past year, with manufacturing firms of various sizes being impacted.

A large proportion of these incidents originated in IT rather than OT and resulted in costly and severe disruptions.

31% of firms stated they suffered financial losses due to cyber attacks.

“Greater connectivity between IT and OT is necessary to harness advanced technology for manufacturing innovation, but it increases the risks of a breach,” explains Telstra International’s Head of Global Enterprise Business, Geraldine Kor. “However, very few firms are mature in protecting and defending against such cyber risks. 

“Our study also uncovered a fragmented approach to security responsibility, which can leave manufacturing businesses without a clear direction. This responsibility must be clear and integrated so that one group or person will have the authority to act on security challenges for mission-critical systems."

The challenge of integration security

Manufacturers are increasingly turning to IT-OT integration to strengthen their security posture.

However, the use of interconnected and hybrid clouds, along with increased data sharing, has introduced vulnerabilities that make certain areas of the IT-OT stack more susceptible to attacks. Ninety-three per cent of firms worldwide have experienced a cybersecurity incident at the highest planning level.

The types of threats and attacks vary, but the impact of downtime costs resulting from any breach remains a critical concern for manufacturers.

Respondents identified advanced persistent threats (APTs), malware, data manipulation or destruction, and DDoS attacks as the most common threats they face.

“More pervasive connectivity between IT and OT is essential across greenfield and brownfield manufacturing system design and enhancements. Step change improvements to innovation, availability, safety and security require firms to harness cloud, IoT, AI and private networks, with IT/OT convergence bringing these technologies to life,” explains Adam Etherington, Senior Analyst at Omdia.

“However, most firms have been hit with expensive outages and security incidents while traditional security controls, policies and culture struggle to keep pace. Given the magnitude of downtime costs from any breach or network incident that impacted operations, it’s important to better understand the causes for proactive remediation.”

Recommendations for manufacturers 

Despite the wide range of attack vectors, Omdia finds that manufacturers lack readiness and preparedness.

The majority of firms are at an operational or developing maturity level, with only 19% considered advanced in securing their IT-OT systems.

Traditionally, the responsibility for securing assets has fallen to production managers or engineers. However, Omdia reports that this responsibility is increasingly shifting to cybersecurity and IT leaders.

While this shift reflects the fact that most incidents in manufacturing originate in IT, Omdia believes that the change is not happening quickly enough. The firm recommends that manufacturing companies appoint a "clear and empowered executive with end-to-end responsibility across IT and OT for global and regional sites".

This is one of several key recommendations and strategic areas of focus from Omdia and Telstra. The report highlights that managing cybersecurity risks across converged systems will be crucial for ensuring operational resilience and sustaining competitive advantage in the future.

It suggests that companies should take actions such as planning to proactively integrate Industry 4.0 technologies, adopting a converged security posture across all layers of the manufacturing technology stack, investing in cybersecurity capabilities and using standalone AI-powered tools and integrated platforms to improve protection.

Ganesh Narayanan, Telstra International’s Global Head of Cyber Security, concludes: “Organisations should prioritise IT-OT and IoT security across six core areas: Collaboration and planning, defining a strategy, bolstering technical expertise, assign responsibility and accountability, leveraging the right tools and expedite readiness with standards."

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