Cyberattacks Aren’t Just an IT Problem—They’re a Direct Threat to Manufacturing
At first, the steel mill workers in Iran probably didn’t know what was happening. Their machines were operating normally—until suddenly, they weren’t. In the control room, operators watched in shock as molten metal overflowed from the crucibles, cascading across the factory floor. The emergency shutdown systems failed, leaving workers scrambling. But this wasn’t an accident. It was an attack.
A group of hackers known as Predatory Swallow had infiltrated the steel mill’s operational technology (OT), taking control of its machinery and overriding its safety mechanisms. They didn’t stop there. They filmed the entire event, uploading the footage online as proof of what they had done.
This wasn’t a financial hack or a data breach. No customer records were stolen. No office systems were locked down with ransomware. This was a direct attack on a factory floor, causing real-world destruction and putting lives at risk. And it’s not an isolated case.
Today, one in four businesses targeted by cybercriminals are manufacturers. Cyberattacks against industrial operations have skyrocketed, yet many manufacturers still assume cybersecurity is only a concern for office networks, emails, and cloud storage. The reality is different. If your machines, CNCs, PLCs, or IIoT devices are connected—even indirectly—you are a target. And even if they aren’t connected, the way files move between systems can still put you at risk.
This isn’t a hypothetical concern. It’s already happening. A small precision manufacturer in Michigan learned this lesson the hard way.
Ransomware effects a Manufacturer—For Three Years
In 2016, a small precision manufacturing business with 42 CNCs was hit by a ransomware attack. It wasn’t just office files that were locked. Every CNC machine program they had saved—years’ worth of carefully optimized production files—was gone.
Without access to those programs, his team couldn’t run their machines at full efficiency. Every part had to be reprogrammed manually, one by one. It took them three years and over 1,000 man-hours of reprogramming to fully recover. The attack didn’t just cost them time. It cost them money, productivity, and growth.
When the owner looked into how this had happened, he found a painful truth: his IT provider had been protecting the office—but had never even looked at the shop floor. No one had considered that the CNC machines, the backbone of their production, could be a cyber target. But the hackers had.
How would your factory handle an attack like that? If all your CNC programs were suddenly locked, corrupted, or deleted, how long would it take to rebuild them? How much money would be lost in the meantime?
The Five Challenges of Protecting the Shop Floor from Cyberattacks
Many manufacturers assume that protecting industrial systems is as simple as installing antivirus software or firewalls. But OT security is far more complex, and there are five major reasons why manufacturers struggle to secure their shop floors.
1. Safety – Cyberattacks Become Safety Risks
In most cybersecurity discussions, people think about stolen data, locked files, or financial fraud. But in manufacturing, the stakes are much higher. A cyberattack on your shop floor doesn’t just put your data at risk—it can put your employees in danger.
Imagine a hacker gaining control over your machines, overriding safety stops, and causing them to malfunction. This isn’t a hypothetical scenario—it has already happened.
In Iran, the Predatory Swallow hacktivist group infiltrated a steel mill’s control systems, taking over critical machinery. Within moments, molten metal overflowed from the crucibles, emergency stops failed, and operators watched helplessly as their systems were turned against them. It was a deliberate act of sabotage, and it could happen in any factory that hasn’t secured its operational technology (OT).
When a Cyberattack Becomes a Workplace Accident
The first sign of trouble might be subtle. A robotic arm moves slightly out of sync. A conveyor belt speeds up without warning. An automated safety system that should have triggered… doesn’t. Then, in an instant, it escalates—a machine malfunctions, an employee is injured, and production grinds to a halt.
No one thinks of cybersecurity when they picture a workplace accident, but that’s exactly what investigators would look at next. If hackers gained access to a factory’s control systems and manipulated machinery, who is responsible? Was it a cyberattack, or was it a preventable safety failure?
If your factory is breached and an employee is injured, you won’t just be dealing with IT trying to restore your systems. You’ll be dealing with lawyers, insurance adjusters, and regulators—all asking the same question:
“Could this have been prevented?”
Regulators from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) will launch an investigation. Did your factory have proper safeguards? Were the machines properly maintained? Should this accident have been preventable?
At the same time, the injured employee (or their family) will file a workers’ compensation claim. Depending on the severity of the injury, this could mean expensive medical bills, long-term disability, or even wrongful death lawsuits.
And what about your customers? If the cyberattack didn’t just harm employees but compromised product quality—creating defects or dangerous malfunctions—those customers could take legal action against your business too.
Cyberattacks were once considered an IT risk. But now, they could put your entire company’s legal and financial future on the line.
The worst part? Most manufacturers have no plan for this kind of attack.
Hackers don’t care about workplace safety standards. They care about exploiting weak security to gain control over factory systems. If your emergency stops fail, if robotic arms move unpredictably, or if temperature controls are overridden, the results could be catastrophic.
Manufacturers need to stop thinking of cybersecurity as just an IT problem. This is a business problem. A safety problem. A liability problem.
Could your company survive a lawsuit if an attack caused physical harm or machine failure?
2. No Two Shop Floors Are the Same—And That’s a Cybersecurity Challenge
No manufacturer builds their shop floor with cybersecurity in mind. Instead, machines are added, replaced, and upgraded over time—not based on security, but based on what keeps production running. The result? No two shop floors are alike.
Step onto one factory floor, and you’ll find decades-old CNC machines running on proprietary software that no longer receives updates. In another, you’ll see modern PLCs connected to cloud-based IIoT platforms, pulling real-time production data. Some shops rely on vendor-supplied software with limited security controls, while others have machines from different manufacturers that weren’t designed to communicate with each other, let alone share a unified security framework.
Unlike an office network, where every system follows a standardized security model, the shop floor is a patchwork of technologies:
- Machines running proprietary operating systems that don’t support modern security tools.
- Vendor-specific software that may not have been updated in years.
- Different manufacturers using different communication protocols, making a single security solution impossible.
- Some machines that are remotely monitored, while others can only be accessed on-site, creating blind spots in security coverage.
When IT teams secure an office, they can install a single endpoint protection system across all devices. That doesn’t work in OT. A security strategy that works for one manufacturer might fail completely in another—because the risks, the machines, and the network architecture are never the same.
This is why manufacturers can’t afford a one-size-fits-all approach to cybersecurity. Instead of trying to retrofit IT security tools onto a fragmented OT environment, businesses need a customized strategy—one that protects their shop floor without disrupting production.
If every shop floor is different, how can a one-size-fits-all security approach actually protect yours?
3. Old Machines, New Threats: The Cybersecurity Risks of Aging OT Systems
Every manufacturer understands the value of reliability. Many of the machines running on today’s shop floors have been in service for 10, 20, or even 30 years—outlasting multiple IT systems, business expansions, and software updates. These machines were built to last. But they weren’t built to defend themselves against cyber threats.
Unlike modern IT infrastructure, which receives regular security patches, many legacy OT systems are frozen in time. Some are still running on Windows XP or DOS, long after those operating systems stopped receiving updates. Others use proprietary firmware from manufacturers that have gone out of business, leaving no path for security improvements. These systems are prime targets for cybercriminals because they are:
- Incapable of receiving security updates, making them vulnerable to known exploits.
- Built before cybersecurity was a concern, meaning they often lack authentication, encryption, or logging features.
- Critical to production, meaning downtime for security upgrades isn’t an option.
For many manufacturers, replacing aging machines isn’t financially viable. Upgrading an entire production line could mean millions of dollars in new equipment—not to mention weeks or months of lost productivity during installation. Even when newer models exist, they may not be compatible with older systems, forcing businesses to rely on outdated technology just to keep operations running.
So what’s the solution? Ignoring the problem isn’t an option—but replacing every aging system isn’t realistic, either. Instead, manufacturers need to take a strategic approach to securing legacy OT environments without disrupting production. This includes:
- Isolating vulnerable systems from internet-connected networks to reduce exposure.
- Implementing network segmentation to prevent attacks from spreading across machines.
- Monitoring traffic to detect anomalies that could signal a breach, even on unpatchable systems.
- Retrofitting existing machines with external security controls where possible.
Cybercriminals don’t care if an old machine still works perfectly for production. If it’s easy to hack, they’ll use it to get inside your business. That’s why securing legacy OT isn’t about upgrading for the sake of it—it’s about keeping your operations safe without sacrificing the machines that keep them running.
How long will your most critical machines stay operational—and what happens if hackers target the ones you can’t afford to replace?
4. Systems Built on Trust—And That’s a Security Problem
When most of today’s industrial control systems (ICS) were designed, cybersecurity wasn’t a concern. The shop floor was a closed environment, where only trained employees and trusted vendors had access. There was no reason to question who was using what machine, or whether a login could be compromised.
That old mindset still lingers today. Many OT systems were built with trust as the default—and that’s exactly what makes them so vulnerable now.
In many factories, it’s still common for multiple employees to share the same login credentials for a CNC machine or PLC. Passwords haven’t been changed in years, and in some cases, they’ve never been changed at all. And because most OT networks weren’t designed with security controls in place, once an attacker gets in, nothing stops them from moving deeper into your systems.
Hackers love this. If they can gain access through one weak point—one shared login, one unprotected vendor connection, one unsecured remote access tool—they can move laterally across your entire factory. What starts as a single compromised machine can quickly become a full-scale breach.
Now, ask yourself this: Would you let every employee in your company access your financial accounts? Of course not. So why allow shared logins on the machines that keep your business running?
If just one compromised login could give hackers access to your entire shop floor, how secure is your factory really?
5. The OT Cybersecurity Skills Gap: Who Will Fix Your Systems When an Attack Happens?
Even when manufacturers recognize the risks and want to improve security, there’s one major obstacle: finding the right expertise.
Most IT providers know how to secure office networks, email servers, and cloud applications—but ask them how to protect a CNC machine, PLC, or industrial control system (ICS), and they’re out of their depth. OT security is an entirely different challenge, requiring specialists who understand both manufacturing operations and cybersecurity.
The problem? Those specialists are in short supply.
Across the industry, there’s a growing shortage of OT cybersecurity experts—and that’s exactly why hackers are targeting manufacturers. They know that if they breach an office network, IT teams can respond quickly. But if they infiltrate the shop floor? Most companies don’t have the right people in place to stop them.
So here’s the question: If an OT cyberattack happened right now, would you have someone available who could fix it immediately? Or would production grind to a halt while you scramble to find an expert—hoping they can help before the damage is done?
When IT can’t fix your shop floor, how long can you afford to wait for someone who can?
Cybersecurity Myths That Could Cost You Your Business
Manufacturers take pride in their processes. Efficiency, precision, and uptime are what keep production running and customers happy. But when it comes to cybersecurity, many manufacturers are operating on outdated assumptions that could put their entire business at risk.
Let’s break down some of the most common myths—and why they no longer hold up in today’s threat landscape.
Myth: “Cybersecurity is Just an IT Issue”
Most manufacturers assume that cybersecurity is something IT handles. After all, they’re responsible for firewalls, antivirus, and network security—shouldn’t they be able to secure the shop floor, too?
The problem is, IT teams are trained to protect office networks, not CNCs, PLCs, or industrial control systems (ICS). The tools and techniques that work for email servers and cloud systems don’t translate to shop floor equipment. If an attacker locks down your CNC machines with ransomware, your IT team won’t be able to restore production.
If your CNCs and shop floor systems go down, your IT team won’t be able to fix them. OT security is different from IT security.
Myth: “Our Shop Floor is Separate & Unconnected”
Many manufacturers believe their shop floor is air-gapped—completely isolated from office networks and the internet. But in Industry 4.0 and 5.0, that’s no longer the case.
Can your office team pull real-time production data from the shop floor? Then it’s connected.
Do vendors remotely access machines for updates or troubleshooting? Then it’s connected.
Are USB drives used to transfer files between machines? Then your air gap is already broken.
Modern factories need data to flow between the shop floor and business systems. But if that data is flowing, so is the risk.
Can you pull production data from the office? Do vendors remotely update machines? If yes, your shop floor isn’t air-gapped—it’s vulnerable.
Myth: “We’re Too Small to Be a Target”
Hackers don’t just go after Fortune 500 manufacturers. In fact, they prefer small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) because they have weaker security.
If you’re a supplier for a larger company, that makes you an even bigger target. Hackers know that breaching a small supplier can give them a pathway into a major corporation’s production line. That’s exactly what happened in Toyota’s 2022 cyberattack—a breach at a small supplier shut down 14 Toyota factories.
Even if your business isn’t connected to a larger company, ransomware groups don’t care how big you are. They use automated attacks to scan for weaknesses and deploy malware on any system they can breach. If they can hold your machines hostage for a ransom, they will.
Hackers target small manufacturers because they know they have weaker security. Even a single supplier breach can shut down a major production line (like Toyota’s).
How Manufacturers Can Protect Their Business Today
The good news? You don’t need to replace all your machines or shut down production to improve security. The key is understanding your risks and taking proactive steps to reduce them.
Here’s where to start:
✅ Identify all connected OT systems – CNCs, PLCs, IIoT devices, vendor remote access points, and USB transfer risks.
✅ Segment IT & OT networks – Keep factory systems separate from office IT to prevent malware from spreading.
✅ Control access – No more shared logins. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) and strict access controls.
✅ Monitor for cyber threats – Real-time monitoring can detect unusual activity before it leads to downtime.
✅ Have a recovery plan – Back up CNC programs, production data, and key configurations offline to avoid total loss.
📌 How Secure is Your Shop Floor? Take the Quiz: Are You Prepared for an OT Cyberattack?
Cybersecurity is a Business Decision, Not an IT Problem
Cybersecurity in manufacturing isn’t just about firewalls and antivirus software. It’s about keeping your machines running, your employees safe, and your customers’ trust intact.
Every minute of downtime costs money. Every breach damages credibility. Every unsecured machine is a risk.
The manufacturers who take cybersecurity seriously today will be the ones who stay competitive tomorrow.
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