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Shillong, July 4: A report published on Tuesday revealed that more than two-thirds (68%) of manufacturing companies globally have experienced ransomware attacks, with hackers successfully encrypting their data. This marks the highest reported encryption rate for the sector in the past three years, aligning with a broader trend of attackers increasingly succeeding in encrypting data across various industries.
However, unlike other sectors, the percentage of manufacturing organizations using backups to recover data has increased. This year, 73% of manufacturing firms utilized backups, compared to 58% in the previous year. Despite this improvement, the manufacturing sector still has one of the lowest data recovery rates, as highlighted by cybersecurity leader Sophos in their report.
The use of backups as a primary recovery mechanism is encouraging, as it facilitates faster recovery. Paying a ransom, on the other hand, can double the costs of recovery, according to John Shier, Field CTO at Sophos. With 77% of manufacturing organizations reporting lost revenue following ransomware attacks, avoiding this additional cost burden is crucial. Shier emphasized the need for early detection and response to prioritize mitigating such incidents.
Despite the increased adoption of backups, the manufacturing and production sector experienced longer recovery times this year. In 2022, 67% of manufacturing organizations recovered within a week, while 33% took more than a week. However, in the past year, only 55% of surveyed manufacturing organizations achieved recovery within a week.
The extended recovery period is a concerning development, impacting IT teams. According to Shier, 69% of these teams reported that addressing security incidents consumed excessive time, with 66% unable to allocate resources to other projects. Efforts should be focused on minimizing recovery times, enhancing incident response capabilities, and reducing the strain on IT teams in the manufacturing sector.