A global survey shows that less than half of manufacturing companies are prepared for the rising onslaught of cyberattacks against them. Credit: Halfpoint - Shutterstock.com As IT and operations technology (OT) converge, manufacturers find themselves increasingly under cyberattack — with many organizations unprepared for the challenge. According to a recent study by Omdia, 80% of manufacturing companies experienced a significant increase in security incidents in the past year. However, only 45% have taken adequate precautions regarding their cybersecurity, while 13% are not prepared at all. The findings are based on a global survey of more than 500 executives responsible for IT or OT security. Manufacturing organizations face a range of cyber threats, including attacks against industrial control systems and IoT systems. Manufacturing has in particular experienced a sharp rise in ransomware attacks over the past year, according to another recent report from Dragos, underscoring the fact that most attacks against the manufacturing industry initially take place against IT systems. According to the Omdia report, 75% of attacks against manufacturers in the past year started in IT, not OT, with 62% of respondents experiencing a resilience or availability issue, typically causing damage ranging from $200,000 to $2 million. “Greater connectivity between IT and OT is necessary to use advanced technologies for innovation in production. But it also increases the risk of a security breach,” the authors of the study emphasize. A smaller portion of manufacturing companies are sufficiently prepared when it comes to protecting and defending against cyber risks, the authors conclude. According to the study, most attacks occurred at the higher level of the IT/OT stack, that is, at the more advanced layers of the technology systems used to process or analyze data. Advanced persistent threats (APTs), malware, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) were cited as the most common attacks on OT systems. It also showed that responsibility for OT security is increasingly falling under the purview of CISOs and other executives with an IT security background. One in five respondents said that their CISO is responsible for understanding and implementing converged IT/OT security in their organization. In addition, 42% of the companies surveyed plan to outsource IT/OT security. See also: 8 biggest cybersecurity threats manufacturers face OT security becoming a mainstream concern SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe