Manufacturing executives not too long ago surveyed by LevelBlue expressed a deep concern that rising assault strategies, similar to deepfakes and AI-powered assaults, might be virtually as seemingly as extra conventional assaults like ransomware.
We derived the knowledge from a research-based survey performed in January 2025, which included 220 C-suite and senior manufacturing executives. The entire survey outcomes will be present in LevelBlue’s newly launched 2025 Highlight Report: Cyber Resilience and Enterprise Affect in Manufacturing.
The Rising Menace of AI-Enhanced Cyberattacks
AI has turn into what is often known as a pressure multiplier for menace actors, primarily permitting them to do extra with much less.
The survey discovered that 47% anticipated a deepfake and artificial identification assault to happen throughout the subsequent yr, whereas 44% anticipated an AI-powered assault.
A number of the areas the place AI is supercharging adversary capabilities are:
- Speed up vulnerability discovery and exploitation by means of automated ransomware and phishing campaigns.
- Craft extremely convincing phishing lures which can be tailor-made and tougher to detect.
- Create deepfakes and artificial identities to gasoline fraud schemes.
- Develop new variants of malware designed to bypass conventional safety programs.
Whereas producers acknowledge these looming risks, readiness stays low, with solely 32% reporting that they’re ready for AI-powered assaults, and simply 30% really feel geared up to defend towards deepfake or artificial identification threats.
On the identical time, geopolitical instability is fueling one other wave of cyber danger. Nation-state actors and hacktivist teams are launching large-scale distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults to disrupt essential infrastructure.
These assaults, which overwhelm programs with large volumes of site visitors, usually are not new; they’ve been a staple of the Web for many years, however at this time, attackers are scaling their affect by leveraging insecure IoT gadgets to construct large botnets.
Even so, solely 37% of producing executives report being ready for a DDoS assault.
The place Producers Are Investing
Regardless of these challenges and shortfalls in some areas, producers are making progress in shoring up their defenses. Many are channeling assets into machine studying and cyber resilience, reflecting a rising recognition that trendy defenses have to be dynamic and business-wide.
The highest 5 areas for vital funding are:
- Machine studying for sample matching – 71%
- Cyber resilience processes throughout the enterprise – 69%
- Generative AI defenses towards social engineering – 64%
- Utility safety – 67%
- Software program provide chain safety – 63%
Encouragingly, these priorities present robust alignment with broader enterprise safety tendencies. Nonetheless, solely 34% of producers are considerably investing in Zero Belief Structure (ZTA) — a framework that might assist forestall lateral motion, detect anomalies rapidly, and instill resilient behaviors throughout the workforce.
Why Stand Alone?
Manufacturing organizations are more and more recognizing that they’ll’t go it alone. The complexity of recent cyber threats requires exterior experience, and lots of producers are turning to outdoors companions for assist.
38% anticipate to enlist cybersecurity consultants within the subsequent two years — up barely from the 36% who’ve already accomplished so.
40% plan to hunt steerage from cyber insurance coverage advisors, in contrast with solely 29% who engaged them prior to now yr.
These shifts mirror a rising consciousness that proactive resilience isn’t nearly know-how investments — it’s additionally about steerage, planning, and shared accountability.
Bringing It All Collectively
The manufacturing sector is at a pivotal second. AI-driven cyberattacks, deepfakes, DDoS campaigns, and provide chain vulnerabilities are already reshaping the safety panorama, and adversaries are evolving sooner than defenses.
Whereas investments in machine studying and cyber resilience are promising, producers should go additional by embracing Zero Belief, strengthening IoT safety, and leaning on skilled companions who may help them keep forward of adversaries.
The threats are imminent, however with a proactive and holistic strategy, producers can shut the readiness hole and safe their operations towards the following technology of cyberattacks.
The content material supplied herein is for basic informational functions solely and shouldn’t be construed as authorized, regulatory, compliance, or cybersecurity recommendation. Organizations ought to seek the advice of their very own authorized, compliance, or cybersecurity professionals concerning particular obligations and danger administration methods. Whereas LevelBlue’s Managed Menace Detection and Response options are designed to assist menace detection and response on the endpoint stage, they don’t seem to be an alternative choice to complete community monitoring, vulnerability administration, or a full cybersecurity program.
