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Why cyber matters for manufacturers: protecting operations and supply chains

Discover why cyber resilience matters for UK manufacturers and how Marsh helps protect operations, supply chains, and business continuity.

Manufacturing is one of the sectors most frequently targeted by cyberattacks. According to one estimate, 27.7% of cybersecurity incidents target manufacturers. For the manufacturing sector, cyber is no longer just an IT issue — it is an operational, supply chain, and business continuity challenge.

Marsh’s cyber and manufacturing specialists see these risks across the sector every day. When cyber incidents affect connected factories, they can halt production, disrupt logistics, damage customer confidence, and create immediate financial loss.

Watch: Why cyber matters for manufacturers

Kasia Lipinska, Marsh’s Head of Automotive & Manufacturing for the UK, and Holly Waszak, Head of Cyber Claims, discuss why manufacturing is one of the most targeted sectors, what’s at stake, and how to build resilience in practice.

Discover how to protect your operations, supply chain, and revenue from cyber risk.

The connected factory: Opportunity and exposure

Modern manufacturing has evolved from isolated, manually controlled environments into highly connected ecosystems of cloud platforms, remote-access systems, and increasingly autonomous machinery. These advances deliver real productivity gains, but they have also expanded the cyberattack surface.

Manufacturers now face cyber risk across two linked environments: operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT). The risk is material: a cyber event can move quickly from a digital issue to a physical production problem.

OT environments are often more exposed because factory equipment and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) may lack the built-in security controls found in modern IT systems. That creates a single point of failure: if attackers target OT systems, they can disrupt operations at scale.

The real cost: Production, revenue, and more

Cyber losses in manufacturing are not abstract data breaches. They show up as concrete operational impacts:

Production downtime: Factory stoppages can cost thousands per hour.
Missed orders and reduced capacity: Lost revenue and market share.
Increased operational costs: Recovery, remediation, and business disruption.
Supply chain disruption: Impact on customers and partners.
Reputational damage: Loss of customer confidence and competitive advantage.

According to Marsh’s UK Cyber Claims 2025 report and Global Cyber Claims report, the impact is widespread: 30% of manufacturers experienced a serious cyber incident directly or through their supply chain. Of those affected, 46% saw increased operational costs, and 46% experienced production downtime.

Supply chain risk: Your vulnerability extends to your suppliers

Manufacturing is uniquely exposed to supply chain cyber risk. Manufacturers are only as resilient as the suppliers they depend on. A single incident at a critical supplier can cascade across operations.

Supplier cyber incidents can lead to:

Delays to customer deliveries
Reduced production capacity
Shortages of parts or materials

In a connected manufacturing ecosystem, cyber resilience is a commercial requirement. Customers increasingly want assurance that manufacturers can keep production moving and protect sensitive data. Cyber resilience is now part of maintaining customer confidence and supply chain continuity, not just a back-office control.

The resilience gap: Where manufacturers stand today

While many manufacturers maintain strong baseline controls, the report reveals significant gaps in cyber resilience:

Only 36% report effective patch management
Only 51% have incident response plans
Only 45% have senior ownership of cyber
Only 23% have a chief information security officer (CISO)

These gaps leave many manufacturers exposed. Recovery testing, governance, and accountability remain inconsistent across the sector.

Building true cyber resilience

Cyber resilience is not a technology problem alone. It is a business problem. In manufacturing, cyber resilience is business resilience because if the factory stops, the impact is immediate, visible, and expensive.

Strong cyber resilience requires:

OT and IT integration: Treat operational technology systems with the same security rigour as office IT. Every connection between systems creates a potential entry point.
Supply chain visibility: Understand suppliers’ cyber posture and build resilience into vendor management.
Incident response planning: Develop and regularly test recovery plans. Testing is as important as prevention.
Senior ownership: Cyber resilience must sit alongside health and safety, quality, and productivity as a core management priority.
Governance and accountability: Assign clear responsibility, invest in skilled resources, and measure progress.
Insurance and financial protection: Cyber liability, business interruption, and data breach insurance can help protect the balance sheet when incidents occur.

The goal is simple: reduce disruption and recover quickly when incidents happen.

Build your manufacturing cyber resilience strategy

Marsh’s cyber and manufacturing specialists are ready to assess your exposure, design a resilience programme aligned to your business, and ensure your insurance strategy supports your operational goals.