Cyber-attacks are becoming an increasingly common threat for businesses of all sizes. Manufacturing companies are also at risk, but they tend to be less prepared than others to deal with this kind of threat.
It’s easy for hackers to access this information because many manufacturers don’t take the proper steps to protect themselves from cybercrime. They often don’t have the right tools or knowledge to protect themselves from hackers who can gain access through email attachments or malicious links in emails sent to employees. We’ve put together some information about the impact a cyber breach has on a manufacturing company, and what they can do to protect themselves.
Understanding Cyber Threats
The first thing to understand is that cyber criminals don’t discriminate. Whether your organization is large or small, the threat of cybercrime is real and it’s growing. Cyber criminals are constantly innovating new ways to steal information from their targets, and no one is immune from attacks.
The second thing to know about cybersecurity threats in manufacturing is that they’re global in nature. The internet makes it possible for people around the world to work together on projects every day – but that also means there’s an increased risk of hackers infiltrating companies’ networks through remote access points like virtual private networks (VPNs). In addition, more than half of all companies say they’ve experienced security breaches in the past year alone.
Third, e-mail is the most common entrance point for most cyber-attacks. The reason for this is simple: e-mail is everywhere. It’s easy to use, and it lets you communicate with people all over the world. But that also means that it’s easy to get hacked when you use e-mail, which can lead to some devastating consequences.
You may think that you’re safe because you’ve set up two-factor authentication (2FA) on your accounts—but what if hackers are using an app masquerading as 2FA? Or what if they’re phishing for your login info? These are just a few of the ways that hackers can gain access to your account.
Cyber breaches can result in legal, financial, and reputational consequences.
The consequences of a cyber breach can be significant, and manufacturing companies need to be aware of these 5 potential impacts:
- Damage to reputation: When you think of a manufacturing company, you probably picture its products and their quality. But if those products get hacked and then sold with malicious software embedded in them (a common way for hackers to infect their targets), how will customers perceive your brand? Will they think twice before purchasing your product again? How will they react when they realize your company knew about these issues but never took steps towards improving security measures?
- Loss of customers: It doesn’t matter how good a product is if no one wants it anymore because they don’t trust what’s inside! Imagine spending months developing an innovative new toy only for someone else who doesn’t care about quality or safety standards–or even worse, someone whose sole purpose is to cause damage–to steal it from under your nose by hacking into your network and selling stolen goods through illicit channels online. This could be devastating for any business carrying out R&D activities within their supply chains; imagine all the time wasted building something only for another party with ulterior motives (with access) selling off parts from within.
- Financial loss: Even if potential customers still want what you’re selling after realizing its been compromised by malware/viruses/worms etc., chances are good that nobody will be willing as pay full price anymore once word gets out due fear over getting ripped off again later down line somewhere else along chain production process.”
- Loss of productivity: A cyber-attack can cause your manufacturing facility to go offline for weeks or even months. If you need to go through the process of rebuilding your systems, this could take a long time.
- Loss of intellectual property: Any data that is stolen as part of a cyber-attack can be used by competitors to build new products and gain an edge on the market by stealing ideas from you.
There are steps that manufacturing companies can take to protect themselves from cyber-attacks.
For manufacturing companies not to face these kinds of consequences following a cyber-attack, they must take steps to protect themselves from attacks by implementing effective security measures such as:
- Cyber security should be a top priority for manufacturing companies.
- Cyber security should be incorporated into each employee’s daily tasks, whether they are an entry-level worker or the CEO.
- All employees should know what cyber security is and how to use it in their day-to-day lives at work, as well as at home.
- A cyber security policy should be put in place by management that includes regular training for all employees on how to protect themselves from online threats and attacks.
In addition to risk management policies, insurance coverage can help protect manufacturers from losses caused by cyber-attacks. Cyber insurance covers losses due to hacking and data breaches. It also covers costs related to repairing damaged hardware and software, preventing future attacks, restoring data, and investigating the cause of the attack.
Conclusion
The manufacturing industry is at high risk of cyber breach. And it’s not just the companies that are at risk, but their employees as well. It’s imperative for manufacturers to adopt a proactive approach to cybersecurity and ensure that their teams understand how hackers operate and how they can avoid being victims of cybercrime.