How Cyber Risk Is Reshaping Manufacturing in 2025

Why cybersecurity is now mission-critical for industrial leaders

Manufacturing used to be a fortress. Equipment lived behind firewalls, plants ran on isolated OT networks, and cybersecurity was an afterthought, something the IT team handled quietly in the background.

Not anymore.

In 2025, industrial cybersecurity has become a boardroom issue. Attacks are faster, more targeted, and more business-disruptive than ever before. The stakes aren’t just financial—they’re operational. A ransomware hit can take a critical production line offline for days. A breached programmable logic controller (PLC) can throw off quality across an entire plant. And a cloud misconfiguration could expose sensitive design files or real-time performance data to bad actors.

Welcome to the new era of digital manufacturing, where resilience, visibility, and secure innovation must go hand-in-hand.

The expanding attack surface: OT is now in the crosshairs

Traditionally, manufacturers protected their IT assets: servers, laptops, and business systems. But today’s factories run on far more than that. Operational technology (OT) systems like SCADA, MES, HMIs, and PLCs now interact with ERP systems, cloud platforms, and AI models.

That convergence means every connected asset, robotic arm, smart sensor, or edge gateway, is a potential point of entry.

Unfortunately, most OT systems weren’t built with security in mind. They were designed to prioritize uptime, speed, and deterministic control. That makes patching rare, encryption minimal, and authentication inconsistent.

For attackers, that’s an opportunity.

New attack vectors, from ransomware targeting industrial control systems to zero-day vulnerabilities in IoT firmware, are increasingly aimed at manufacturers. Why? Because downtime hurts. When a production line stops, it’s not just inconvenient, it’s expensive. And cybercriminals know manufacturers will often pay quickly to resume operations.

What keeps industrial cybersecurity leaders up at night

Whether you’re a Director of OT Security, a Head of IT Infrastructure, or a VP overseeing InfoSec for global plants, the pressure is mounting.

Here are five of the biggest concerns keeping manufacturing security leaders awake in 2025:

1. IT-OT convergence without visibility

Many security teams have a strong grasp of their IT environments but little visibility into OT. That blind spot makes it difficult to detect threats, enforce policies, or respond to incidents across plant systems.

2. Cloud and hybrid complexity

Cloud adoption has surged, but with it comes risk. Misconfigured access controls, shadow IT, and lack of cloud-native security tools leave gaps that attackers can exploit. Manufacturing networks are now hybrid by default, but security often lags behind.

3. Rising regulatory pressure

Frameworks like NIS2, IEC 62443, and ISO 27001 are now top of mind. Non-compliance isn’t just a legal issue—it’s a reputational one. Cyber teams must meet evolving standards while translating technical controls into auditable, business-aligned metrics.

4. Legacy systems and insecure protocols

From Modbus to OPC-UA, many industrial protocols lack basic encryption or authentication. That makes legacy equipment hard to secure without impacting production. Leaders need ways to wrap or monitor these systems without disruption.

5. Lack of skilled cyber talent

Industrial cybersecurity is a niche skill set. Finding people who understand both IT security and OT systems is increasingly difficult. As the threat landscape evolves, the talent gap widens, putting even more pressure on lean security teams.

A platform for resilience: Why cyber is core to modern manufacturing

In the age of digital transformation, cybersecurity can’t be a blocker, it must be an enabler.

Modern manufacturers are investing in AI, predictive maintenance, digital twins, and edge computing. But none of that will scale if security is bolted on later. The new mindset? “Secure by design”.

Forward-thinking leaders are embedding cyber into every layer of their stack, from identity access management (IAM) at the user level, to segmentation at the network layer, to SIEM/SOAR orchestration across the enterprise.

This shift is driven by necessity. As attackers get more sophisticated, reactive strategies are no longer enough. Proactive visibility, automated threat response, and recovery-by-default architecture are now essential for business continuity.

Explore next-gen industrial security at Manufacturing Data Summit Europe 2025

If you’re responsible for protecting your organization’s data, infrastructure, or operational technology, there’s no better place to be than Manufacturing Data Summit Europe 2025.

The agenda is packed with insight for digital defenders, from keynote sessions on securing complex IT/OT environments, to panels exploring real-world recovery strategies after breaches, to deep dives on regulatory readiness and cyber-physical convergence.

Meet with CISOs, infrastructure architects, and cybersecurity engineers from across the manufacturing spectrum to discuss the evolving threat landscape, benchmark maturity, and walk away with actionable frameworks you can apply in your own environment.

From air gaps to cloud: Where are the new battle lines?

One of the biggest shifts in 2025 is how fast air-gapped systems are becoming a thing of the past. Even historically isolated OT environments are now being connected, whether to support remote diagnostics, optimize energy use, or feed AI models.

That connectivity is powerful, but dangerous if not properly secured.

OT-specific cybersecurity platforms like Dragos, Claroty, and Nozomi are gaining traction because they offer passive monitoring, anomaly detection, and protocol-aware insights that traditional IT tools can’t provide.

And on the cloud side, CISOs are leaning heavily on Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) scanning to close gaps before code is deployed.

This convergence of disciplines is changing the role of the cybersecurity leader. It’s no longer just about “protection”, it’s about resilience. Can your systems recover quickly? Can your team detect threats before damage is done? Can your controls scale with growth?

Security as a competitive advantage

In high-stakes sectors like aerospace, automotive, and food production, security posture is more than a risk issue, it’s a customer requirement.

OEMs and tier-one suppliers increasingly demand proof that vendors and partners meet stringent cybersecurity standards. A well-articulated cyber strategy isn’t just for internal peace of mind, it’s a differentiator in the eyes of procurement teams and compliance officers.

Manufacturers who embrace security as a strategic pillar, rather than a compliance checkbox—position themselves to win bigger contracts, reduce downtime risk, and build deeper trust with customers and investors alike.

Looking ahead: Where do digital defenders go from here?

Cybersecurity isn’t static. The threat landscape will continue to evolve, and so will the strategies needed to defend against it.

But one thing is clear: manufacturing leaders must break down the silos between IT, OT, and security teams. Only through unified visibility, shared accountability, and proactive architecture can digital defenders truly enable transformation without compromise.

So as you plan your next strategic investments, ask:

• Are we treating security as an enabler or a barrier?
• Do we have the visibility we need across OT systems?
• Are our cloud environments configured securely—and monitored continuously?
• Are we ready to comply with the next wave of regulation?
• And most importantly: if we were attacked tomorrow, could we recover?

Let’s Build a More Secure Future Together

Cyber resilience is not a luxury, it’s a manufacturing imperative.

Ready to dive deeper into how leading manufacturers are defending against digital threats? Don’t miss your opportunity to learn, benchmark, and connect at the Manufacturing Data Summit Europe 2025.