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The May 2021 ransomware attack on JBS Foods that knocked out the plant operations supplying roughly a fifth of the United States’ meat supply is an all too familiar story. Since September of 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been alerting food producers, processors, and manufacturers via an industry-specific notice that criminals are carrying out focused ransomware attacks targeting companies in this sector.

While digitalization has become a crucial goal across sectors, the application of digital solutions in manufacturing comes with added complications. Given the material nature of industrial process assets and equipment, the emphasis for manufacturing investment has still been predominantly hardware based, with upgrading plant machinery essential to meet production demand.

The steel industry has faced a whirlwind of challenges—a hiatus in construction projects, worldwide pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and market fluctuations—but increased demand for domestically produced steel is creating opportunities for U.S.-based manufacturers. The steel mills driving this growth are enhancing and developing their complex operations and processes to run more efficiently.

Several high-profile cyber attacks in recent years have put a spotlight on growing levels of cybersecurity risk in the automotive sector. The industry needs to quickly increase awareness of the current attack surface, which is often through the installed base of network assets, including machines and devices on plant floors. Successful attacks create not only financial risks in terms of ransomware shutdowns, data loss and expensive recovery processes.

Manufacturing organizations know that unplanned downtime is costly. What may be less clear is the impact that cyberattacks, like ransomware, have on downtime. Simply put: successful attacks on manufacturing mean downtime – not measured in hours or days, but often weeks or longer.