Manufacturing may be centred around physical machines, production lines and supply chains, but that doesn’t make it immune to cyber threats. Rather the opposite – the sector is increasingly under attack.
For example, between July and September 2024 the UK manufacturing sector faced 394 unique ransomware attacks, representing 71% of all incidents in key industries.
Despite this, many manufacturing firms make entirely preventable mistakes, operating with gaps in their cybersecurity approach.
Here are the key mis‑steps we see in the industry, and how we’ve helped our clients fix them:
Mistake 1: Believing “We’re too small to be targeted”
Some manufacturers assume because they’re not a large international brand, they won’t be a target.
The truth is the opposite: cyber attackers often view smaller or mid sized operations as easier targets with weaker defences and UK statistics show that 43% of businesses reported a breach or attack in the past year.
Working with Moon computers provides access to our entire expert cyber security team and the ability to take advantage of a range of enterprise level protection services at a fraction of the cost of a single IT security expert.
Mistake 2: Focusing only on production machines, not the entire IT ecosystem
Manufacturers often protect visible machines but overlook the network, IoT sensors, remote access, vendor connections and legacy control systems. This leaves weak entry points.
By contrast, a holistic managed services approach (such as the one we’d embed in your business) would cover all layers of IT & OT, providing endpoint protection, network security, remote access validation, OT segmentation and vendor access controls.
Mistake 3: Treating cybersecurity as a one time project
Cyber threats evolve fast with new attack vectors, tools, supply chain threats and social engineering strategies appearing weekly. Though, many manufacturing firms assume setting up protections and then moving on is enough. Sadly not.
Regularly assessing your own weaknesses is pivotal, yet UK Cyber & Security data show only 29% of businesses conduct cyber risk assessments.
The most secure operations embed continuous monitoring, risk assessment refreshes and staff training to maintain and continually improve their cyber stance and readiness.
Mistake 4: Under investing in staff awareness and social engineering
Phishing and social engineering remain the most common attack vectors. In fact, the UK Government found phishing accounted for 90% of business cyber crimes.
Human error and simple email protections go a long way to preventing phishing attacks from bringing a business to its knees, and we can deliver training, simulated phishing exercises and policy frameworks to dramatically reduce the chance of becoming a victim.
Mistake 5: Neglecting the cost of breach consequences
Too often, manufacturers assume they’ll “just recover if something happens” but downtime, reputational damage, supply chain impact and regulatory fines add up.
For example, JLR’s recent cyberattack cost the UK economy ≈ £1.9 billion, causing a 27% drop in production and almost caused the closure of many of its subsidiary suppliers.
We partner with you to build resilience, business continuity and incident response plans, not just prevention so you don’t become a target.
The wrong assumptions and weak hygiene create doors for attackers and can halt production, damage reputation and impose heavy costs, which proves cybersecurity for manufacturers is not optional; it’s fundamental.
With a proactive managed services partner like Mooncomputers, you can fix the gaps, protect production, and operate with confidence.
