The manufacturing industry was the most attacked industry in
2021, surpassing financial services, according to billions of data
points analyzed by IBM.
Ransomware, the top attack type, accounted for nearly a quarter
of the attacks on manufacturing companies.
In the past, cyberattackers focused their attention on the
financial, healthcare, retail, and energy industries, allowing many
in manufacturing to sail by on the belief that threat actors were
not interested in them.
Several factors have combined in recent years, however, to make
manufacturing the preferred prey.
Increased utilization of internet-connected operations and
industrial control systems, the Industrial Internet of Things,
increased security and regulation within other heavily targeted
industries, an expanded remote workforce, and other workforce
vulnerabilities all act like chum in the ocean to attract
predators.
