Report by Make UK

Cyber Security In Manufacturing

13 FINDINGSPublished Aug 10, 2026
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Key Findings

30% of manufacturers experienced a cyber incident in the past year, either directly or through their supply chain.

ManufacturingUKSupply ChainCyber Incident

31% of manufacturers affected by supplier cyber attacks reported delays to customer deliveries.

ManufacturingUKSupply ChainCyber Incident

46% of manufacturers experienced increase of operational cost and production downtime where incidents caused disruption.

ManufacturingUKCyber Incident

31% of affected manufacturers experienced delays, 31% saw reduced capacity, and 23% faced component or material shortages following a supplier cyber incident.

ManufacturingUKCyber Incident

51% of manufacturers have incident response plans.

ManufacturingUKCyber IncidentIncident Response

45% of manufacturers have senior ownership and recovery testing.

ManufacturingUKCyber IncidentRecovery Testing

10% of manufacturers experienced an incident with a direct financial impact and a further 20% reported successfully mitigating attacks before they caused business disruption.

ManufacturingUKCyber Incident

23% of manufacturers report that they have asked suppliers to demonstrate cyber security compliance, closely mirroring the 25% that have been asked to provide similar assurance to their own customers.

ManufacturingUKCompliance

Using the midpoint of each cost range to calculate a weighted average, the estimated direct financial impact of a cyber incident on an affected manufacturer is approximately £28,000 per incident.

ManufacturingUKCyber Incident

More than one in five manufacturers (22.7%) believe available cybersecurity solutions are not relevant to their business, while 18.2% report that providers lack a sufficient understanding of manufacturing operations.

ManufacturingUKCybersecurity SolutionsSecurity Tools

Firewalls are the most widely adopted measure (92%) among manufacturers, followed by malware protection (80%), secure configuration (67%) and access controls (61%).

ManufacturingUKFirewallsMalware ProtectionAccess Controls

Patch management is used by only 36% of manufacturers.

ManufacturingUKPatch Management

Fewer than a quarter (23%) of manufacturers have a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer (CISCO).

ManufacturingUKCISCO