"Over a Quarter of UK Manufacturers Experienced Substantial Financial Loss From Cyber Attacks in Last 12 Months"
Almost half of Britain's manufacturers (42 percent) have fallen victim to cybercrime over the last 12 months, according to a new survey report titled "Cyber Security: UK manufacturing," published by Make UK. 26 percent reported a considerable financial loss resulting from an attack. Although two-thirds of respondents said the importance of cybersecurity has increased in the last 12 months, most decided not to take any additional cybersecurity actions despite adopting new technologies to boost production. Maintaining legacy Information Technology (IT) (45 percent), a lack of cyber skills within the company (38 percent), and providing access to third parties for monitoring and maintenance (33 percent) were the most cited cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The study also discovered that production halts were the most common result of a cyberattack (65 percent), with reputational damage ranking second (43 percent). The adoption of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices is the most important driver of cybersecurity adoption in one out of every three organizations (30 percent). These new IIoT processes, such as automated sensors that drive efficiencies, are central to manufacturing production and are regarded as business-critical functions. Thirty-seven percent say that cybersecurity concerns have delayed the introduction of new connected technologies into their organization, stifling potential productivity gains and impeding growth. This article continues to discuss findings from Make UK's report on manufacturing cybersecurity.