For most of the last decade, manufacturers operated on a comfortable assumption: cybercriminals went after banks, hospitals, and retailers, the businesses sitting on credit card numbers and patient records. A machine shop or a fabrication plant didn't feel like a target.
According to IBM's X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, manufacturing has been the most targeted industry for cyberattacks for five consecutive years, accounting for 27.7% of all incidents the team responded to. Bitsight's 2025 research put manufacturing at the top of its list as well, tied to a 71% surge in threat actor activity against the sector, with nearly half of those incidents involving ransomware. Manufacturers don't hold the most valuable data. They have the lowest tolerance for downtime, which makes them the most likely to pay quickly to get a line running again.
Why the Shop Floor Became a Target
The vulnerability primarily exists in the operational technology that runs the production floor. CNC machines, programmable logic controllers, SCADA systems, building automation, and the sensors feeding a modern plant were designed to run reliably for fifteen or twenty years. They were not designed to sit on a network connected to the internet, and many run embedded software that hasn't received a security update in a decade because the vendor no longer supports it or the manufacturer can't afford to halt production to patch it.
For years this didn't matter, because operational technology lived on its own isolated network, physically separated from the office systems. That separation has mostly disappeared. Plants now connect machines to the network for remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, and real-time production data. A 2025 industry survey found that 64% of organizations lack adequate monitoring of their OT networks, meaning most plants cannot see what is happening on the systems that run their physical operations.
An attacker who compromises an administrator's laptop can, on a poorly segmented network, reach the systems that control the machines. Once there, the options range from ransomware that locks the production schedule to manipulation that damages equipment or product.
What an Attack Actually Costs
Arctic Wolf reported a median cost of roughly $600,000 for a manufacturing ransomware attack, and that figure exists in addition to the cost of a stopped line. Research places unplanned manufacturing downtime anywhere from $10,000 to over $500,000 per hour depending on the plant. For a small or mid-sized manufacturer, even the low end of that range turns a few days of recovery into a six-figure loss before the ransom is ever discussed.
A halted line also means missed delivery commitments, which means contractual penalties and customers who start considering an alternative supplier. For manufacturers and architectural firms working from proprietary designs, an attack can also mean the theft of the drawings, specifications, and processes that took years to develop. Those files are the heart of the business, and are often the least protected asset in the building.
Why Standard IT Security Misses the Problem
A manufacturer that has invested in office IT security often assumes the plant is covered. It usually isn't. The antivirus software and firewalls protecting the front office were built for Windows desktops and email, not for a twenty-year-old PLC running a proprietary control protocol. You can’t install endpoint protection on a machine controller, and it’s costly to reboot a production system for patches in the middle of a shift. Securing operational technology requires a different approach.
To resolve the issue, you’d need to start with an accurate inventory of every connected device on the floor, what it talks to, and what it's running. You can’t protect equipment you don't know is there. From there, the network gets segmented so that office systems and production systems are separated, and a compromise on one side can’t reach the other. Traffic on the OT network gets monitored for the unusual patterns that signal an intrusion. Remote access into plant systems, often left open for vendor maintenance, gets locked down and logged. None of this requires replacing functioning machines. It just involves building a security layer around equipment that was never designed to defend itself.
How a Managed Provider Helps
For a manufacturer without a dedicated security team, this is where a managed IT partner can really make an impact. The provider can map the connected environment across both office and plant, identify where the production network is exposed to the business network, and build the segmentation / monitoring that keeps an office breach from reaching the floor. Patching should be scheduled around production, and applied during planned maintenance windows so security improves without stopping output. Backups of critical control configurations and design files should be tested against a defined recovery window, so a ransomware event becomes a restore operation rather than a negotiation.
If you're not sure what's connected on your plant floor, or whether an attack on your office systems could reach your production equipment, a Network Discovery might be in order. We'll map your full environment, identify where your OT and IT networks meet, and show you the exposure before someone else finds it.
Ready to take the next step? Contact the Connecting Point team today to discuss your organization's needs.
Fill out our Network Discovery Form to get started!
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Connecting Point is a trusted IT solutions provider based in Greeley, Colorado, helping businesses across Northern Colorado and beyond navigate technology decisions with confidence.
