LevelBlue has released its 2025 Spotlight Report: Cyber Resilience and Business Impact in Manufacturing. The report explores how the manufacturing industry is protecting itself from increasingly sophisticated attacks as more organisations integrate artificial intelligence (AI) for efficiency, optimised processes, and enhanced automation.
The findings reveal that manufacturing organisations expect a rise in AI-powered attacks, deepfakes, and synthetic identity attacks in 2025; however, many are not prepared for them. Only 32 per cent of manufacturing executives say they are equipped for AI-powered threats, and just 30 per cent feel their organisation is ready for deepfake attacks. Simultaneously, organisations face an increase in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks amid rising geopolitical tensions, with only 37 per cent of manufacturing executives reporting they are prepared for them. Data security and privacy are still the biggest challenges, with 54 per cent of organisations reporting very low to moderate visibility into the software supply chain.
In response to these threats, manufacturers are cultivating a cybersecurity-first culture by linking security initiatives directly to business strategy. As an industry, these organisations are taking actionable steps: 65 per cent say leadership roles are now measured against cybersecurity KPIs, and 70 per cent are educating the workforce about social engineering tactics.
Kory Daniels, chief security and trust officer, LevelBlue, said, “Cyber resilience is no longer optional, it’s becoming a strategic imperative for manufacturers in order to maintain customer and supply chain trust. While it’s encouraging to see increased alignment between cybersecurity initiatives and business goals, the data shows that many organisations still face critical gaps in alignment. Corporate executive alignment and a proactive, adaptive approach are essential to staying ahead of rapidly evolving threats.”
Research shows manufacturers are beginning to embed resilience into their innovation strategies, with more than half (55 per cent) now allocating cybersecurity budgets at the outset of new initiatives. Another 69 per cent report that an adaptive approach to cybersecurity enables them to take greater innovation risks.
Significant areas of additional cyber resilience investments from manufacturers include:
- machine learning for pattern matching (71 per cent)
- cyber resilience processes across the business (69 per cent)
- Generative AI defenses against social engineering (64 per cent)
- application security (67 per cent)
- enhanced software supply chain security (63 per cent).
You can read the full report here.
