Data Breaches Threaten Manufacturers

Verizon just released its Data Breach Investigations Report. It contains a sobering analysis of manufacturing’s vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks. According to the report, the top three types of attacks are:

• System Intrusion. Hacking and Malware attacks, with incidences of Denial of Service (DOS) attacks accounting for 67% of this category.
• Basic Web Application Attacks. Gaining access to databases to obtain intellectual property, security credentials, and other sensitive information.
• Social Engineering.? Manipulating people to disclose passwords or other private information that can compromise a company’s security.?

External actors (cybercriminals in general, but also former employees and foreign government agencies) continue to comprise the largest source of data breaches by far (83%), though the report authors note that damage from internal actors (employees, contractors, interns, and other staff) can be just as potentially catastrophic.

The report points out that with every new defense strategy employed by the industry against data breaches and cyber attacks, “Our adversaries are just as quick to adapt and find a new vantage point from which to attack. While this state of affairs is already unfortunate enough, it becomes worse still when we do not even require them to evolve their tactics because the old ones still work just fine.”?

It is perhaps paradoxical that just as manufacturers are increasingly relying on AI and data transformation to improve processes and address labor shortages, they become increasingly vulnerable to data breaches and cybercriminals. The weak link is often not the technology, but the human element. As Tyler Zito, senior solutions architect at security operations provider Expel, points out in this week’s Industry Today feature, “Attackers prefer the path of least resistance—which usually means targeting humans.”

As the owner and publisher of a digital media platform, I found the vulnerabilities addressed in Manufacturers Are a Prime Target for Social Engineering particularly relevant. I’m hopeful that the proposed solutions recommended by Zito can make us all less vulnerable. Failing to implement the necessary defenses against the increasing risks of cyber attacks is to become yet another statistic in the next Verizon report on data breaches.

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