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Cybersecurity plays a significant role in the manufacturing sector. As factories become increasingly automated and connected to networks, they face heightened cyberthreats risks that could disrupt operations. A cyberattack in the manufacturing industry can stop production, resulting in substantial financial losses and reputational damage. Therefore, strong cybersecurity measures are necessary to secure network infrastructure and have a disaster recovery plan to protect your manufacturing operations.
Let’s explore the risks and reports of cyberattacks in the manufacturing industry worldwide and uncover how cloud and colocation services can enhance business security.
Cyberattacks in the Manufacturing Industry
A recent report found that manufacturing was the top industry affected by ransomware in 2023, with an 83% year-over-year increase in ransomware victims during the first three quarters of 2023 alone. The reason why manufacturing companies are such a huge target for bad actors is also understandable. A cyberattack can have huge and costly implications that can easily trickle down into operations and the global supply chain, causing a spiderweb of issues with a long and lingering ripple effect.
In 2022, a cyberattack on Toyota’s supply chain shut down 14 factories in Japan for 24 hours. This event made international headlines and caused extensive financial and reputational damage. Furthermore, a 2023 attack on Clorox forced most of the company’s automated systems offline, including those that major retailers like Target and Walmart relied on to purchase merchandise.
The end result of that security breach cost Clorox an estimated $356 million due to a 20% decline in sales directly related to downtime (in addition to a sharp drop in stock price and an unplanned and immediate $25 million investment in upgraded security measures.)
Case studies on cyberattacks on manufacturing companies continue to make global headlines, emphasizing the urgent need to protect businesses from the increase of cyberthreats.
Cybersecurity Solutions for the Manufacturing Industry
There is a solution for manufacturers that need to enhance, maintain, and ensure their security and that is: cloud and colocation services.
Colocation providers and cloud managed services providers are two of the most in-demand cybersecurity services at the moment. These services provide a cost-effective way to protect data, maintain operations and systems, and minimize downtime in the event of a worst-case scenario.
Depending on your organization’s data, resources, apps, and systems, cloud and colocation services (or a hybrid cloud security service that combines on-premises infrastructure cloud security monitoring) can provide reliable and constant protection. This approach minimizes the extensive costs involved in building and maintaining a top cybersecurity team.
How cloud and colocation services work
In its simplest terms, a colocation data center provides a secure space for a manufacturer’s servers and equipment. However, the best colocation data center providers offer much more than real estate.
For example, at DartPoints, we have state-of-the-art infrastructure with lightning-fast data transmission and a dedicated support team to ensure your business has a combination of secure and high-performance operations.
This allows our colocation data centers to meet industry regulations or compliance requirements – a common need in manufacturing – and provides uptime assurance, a cornerstone of cybersecurity. As evident in the many examples of data breaches and cyberattacks in the manufacturing industry, downtime can be detrimental to sales and affect all arms of your organization.
Affected business areas include everything from inventory to shipping to marketing to maintaining brand reputation and loyalty – with both retailers and your end-user customers.
Therefore, when it comes to downtime, every second counts. In the above Clorox example, though the downtime was somewhat minimal and sporadic, the company was still struggling to resume normal production more than a month after the cyberattack occurred.
Cloud Services and Cybersecurity
Cloud Network Security has a similar goal, and it is defined as a collection of technologies, controls, and processes that protect private, public, or hybrid cloud networks from unauthorized access, modification, misuse, or exposure to cyberthreats. Many companies rely on cloud services to access systems, applications, and resources over the internet.
Additionally, cloud services offer a suite of virtual resources that are continuously accessible, effectively resulting in real-time and on-demand access to computing necessities and storage, provided there is an internet connection.
In recent years, there has been a transition across all sectors from on-premises infrastructure to cloud services (or advanced colocation data centers) simply because of the need for scalability and expansion. In addition, these resources can be combined to suit a company’s needs, ensuring the best security and storage possible that aligns with a company’s IT and overall infrastructure.
The benefits of cloud and colocation services
There are many benefits to enlisting professional and expert cloud and colocation services, especially in the manufacturing sector. However, a few of the most noticeable advantages include the following.
Cost
Maintaining on-premises infrastructure is rapidly becoming more expensive and less secure. Cloud and colocation services offer a cost-effective alternative that simultaneously gives companies access to the best cybersecurity measures, resources, and personnel in the security industry.
Protection
Bad actors are constantly finding new ways to gain access to systems and data, and these efforts are nonstop and continuously accelerating in terms of sophistication and success. However, expert cloud and colocation service providers are also adapting to these evolutions and are constantly evolving security measures as new threats arise.
As opposed to on-premises infrastructure, where constant awareness of security risks and maintenance is required, manufacturing companies will have an adept team of experts behind the scenes to stay on top of threats before they become emergencies.
Disaster recovery
In a worst-case scenario, recovery becomes the most immediate and essential goal for every company, and the best cloud and colocation service providers have processes and resources in place to ensure continued and automated data backup to ensure a constant safety net.
Eliminating downtime is essential and of utmost importance, but having a disaster recovery plan in place and readily available adds an extra layer of protection (and peace of mind) to ensure that any pause in operations is minimized as much as possible.
Secure Your Manufacturing Operations with Cybersecurity
Are you ready to incorporate cloud and colocation services for your manufacturing operations? Partnering with DartPoints stands apart for many reasons, from our advanced technologies to our 24/7 support and security monitoring services.
However, our commitment to meeting and exceeding our clients’ unique and distinctive needs truly resonates as companies grow and evolve.
Reach out to us today to discuss your pain points. We will work together to find a custom-tailored solution that provides complete security coverage for all your imperative systems and operations. When it comes to cybersecurity) – you need an expert resource, and DartPoints can guide and protect your business.