78% of UK manufacturers hit by a cyber incident in the past year

Research suggests 78% of UK manufacturers experienced a cyber incident in the past year. Manufacturing has often assumed it’s a low-value target — these figures say otherwise, and the mix of IT and factory-floor technology makes the sector especially exposed.

What it means for you

Manufacturers increasingly run connected production systems (operational technology) alongside traditional IT. That convergence expands the attack surface, and downtime on a production line is enormously costly — which is precisely what makes manufacturers attractive ransomware targets.

Segmenting IT from operational technology, keeping systems patched, and having tested backups are the priorities. We help manufacturing clients protect both the office and the factory floor without disrupting production.

Why manufacturing is so exposed

Manufacturers sit at the intersection of two worlds: traditional office IT and the operational technology that runs the production line. As those worlds converge, the attack surface grows — and because a stopped line costs money by the hour, manufacturers are exactly the kind of downtime-sensitive target ransomware crews prefer. Add long-lived machinery that cannot easily be patched, lean in-house IT teams and complex supplier networks, and the sector’s high incident rate starts to make sense.

Protecting both office and factory floor

The priorities are clear: separate IT from operational technology so an email-borne infection cannot reach the plant, patch what you can and wrap compensating controls around what you cannot, and keep tested, offline backups so production can be restored quickly. Tighten and monitor any remote access used by machinery vendors, and treat suppliers as part of your own risk picture. Done well, this protects uptime as much as data. We help manufacturing clients secure both environments without disrupting production schedules.

It also pays to map which systems are genuinely essential to production, so that if the worst happens you know exactly what to restore first and in what order.

Source: ITPro, 1 April 2026.