IBM research shows a 33 percent increase in cyberattacks against manufacturing companies between 2021-2022. Of those, according to IBM, 44 percent occurred because industrial companies failed to apply the appropriate software patches.
With this in mind, it’s not a surprise that additional data from The 2023 OpenText Cybersecurity Threat Report found that manufacturing is the leader in terms of rate of malware infection – coming in at a rate that is more than 55 percent higher than the average for all industry verticals, including healthcare, banking and education.
A lack of endpoint protection via patching, simple firewalls and additional security protocols continue to be issues throughout the industrial sector. Randy Powell, director of cybersecurity at Rheem Manufacturing, a leading provider of HVAC equipment and hot water heaters, discussed all this and more on our latest episode of Security Breach.
To catch up on past episodes, you can go to Manufacturing.net, IEN.com or MBTmag.com. You can also check Security Breach out wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon and Overcast. And if you have a cybersecurity story or topic that you’d like to have us explore on Security Breach, you can reach me at [email protected].
To download our latest report on industrial cybersecurity, The Industrial Sector’s New Battlefield, click here.
