Ransomware threats have disrupted the manufacturing industry significantly in 2020. These attacks have resulted in substantial losses in production and disjointed operations. In a disturbing trend during the third quarter of the year, attackers appeared to be singling out manufacturing organizations as a victim of choice in their ransomware operations. Data from Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ shows how ransomware threat actors have affected different industries.
Manufacturing facilities use big physical machines — assembly lines, furnaces, motors, and the like — but both the advancement of technology and the trend of Industry 4.0 have also meant that computers have been introduced into production and operation systems. These big industrial machines are controlled or monitored by computers; these computers, in turn, are connected to other computers and networks in order to pass around data.
