Manufacturers today are operating in an environment where digital risk is escalating faster than many organisations can respond. The sector sits at the centre of the global economy, powering industries from energy and healthcare to transportation and consumer goods, which means an operational disruption has implications well beyond individual companies.
Recent research from LevelBlue highlights just how severe the situation has become. The study reveals a sharp rise in cyber threats, driven by advances in artificial intelligence (AI), increasingly complex supply chains and mounting geopolitical tensions. These pressures are exposing vulnerabilities across the UK’s industrial ecosystem, including major automotive manufacturers – like we saw with Jaguar Land Rover in 2025.
AI as an accelerator for cyber threats
AI promises game-changing efficiency gains across production lines, quality control and workforce productivity. Simultaneously, it is also transforming how attackers operate. Criminal groups are now using AI to scale social-engineering operations, generate highly realistic deepfakes and identify exploitable vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed.
Manufacturing leaders anticipate these risks rising sharply, many expect a surge in AI-enabled attacks and identity manipulation, yet preparedness lags significantly behind awareness. A major gap has emerged between the rapid adoption of AI technologies and the cybersecurity measures needed to use them safely. According to LevelBlue’s report, while 44% of executives expect AI‑driven attacks and 47% foresee threats like deepfakes or synthetic identities, only about one‑third feel confident in their ability to defend against them.
The consequence is an expanding attack surface that many organisations don’t yet have the structure or tooling to fully manage. AI adoption is happening too fast for regulations, governance or mature cybersecurity controls to keep pace, which expands the attack surface and increases exposure. Many leaders acknowledge these risks yet remain eager to roll out AI solutions, often without putting the necessary safeguards in place. This gap between rapid innovation and adequate protection highlights the pressing need for manufacturers to adopt a more proactive and flexible approach to building resilience.
Software supply chain exposure
Despite years of warnings and high-profile incidents, the software supply chain remains one of the manufacturers’ weakest defence points. Too few organisations have deep visibility across their vendor ecosystem, and only a small portion are making meaningful investments in supply chain security. LevelBlue’s research highlights this: just 31% of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) consider the software supply chain their primary security risk, while many continue to downplay concerns such as legacy systems (62%) or limited visibility for security assessments (64%).
The research shows manufacturers regularly underestimate risks such as outdated software, unsecured open-source components and inadequate transparency from third-party suppliers. These weaknesses give attackers an entry point into a company’s systems, allowing them to steal sensitive information, disrupt operations and even pass compromised software on to customers. Strengthening supplier verification, maintaining accurate software bills of materials and performing frequent risk assessments must become baseline practice for manufacturers looking to harden their defences.
Cybersecurity becomes a business priority, but gaps persist
One encouraging shift is that cybersecurity is increasingly being seen as a strategic business issue rather than a technical afterthought. Many manufacturers now align security with business functions, incorporate cybersecurity KPIs at leadership levels, and invest in resilience, earlier in project lifecycles.
LevelBlue’s findings show that 68% of manufacturing executives believe their cybersecurity teams are well aligned with core business functions, and 65% say leadership roles are now directly linked to cybersecurity KPIs. Combined with rising media scrutiny and an increasingly sophisticated threat landscape, these factors are elevating cybersecurity on the corporate agenda, capturing C‑suite attention and driving greater prioritisation across organisations.
This change marks a broader move toward proactive cybersecurity, embedding protection into innovation efforts, enabling calculated risk-taking and fostering better awareness of threats across the workforce. Over half of manufacturers (55%) now set aside cybersecurity funding at the very beginning of new projects, embedding security into initiatives from day one. Additionally, 69% say that adopting an adaptive cybersecurity strategy allows them to take bolder innovation risks, and 70% are actively training employees to recognise social engineering threats. Together, these efforts signal a sector increasingly treating resilience as a core enabler of growth.
But progress continues to be uneven. Less than half of manufacturing organisations describe their cyber culture as fully effective. To reach the next stage of maturity, manufacturers will need stronger governance, deeper employee engagement and security practices that are integrated into the day-to-day functions, rather than just major initiatives.
What manufacturers should prioritise next
Manufacturers looking to strengthen their cyber resilience need to shift from simple awareness to concrete action:
- The next step is strengthening governance so that board-level oversight translates into measurable accountability, clear ownership and consistent risk management across the organisation.
- At the same time, organisations should work with various departments, particularly with HR, to build a stronger security-minded culture, encouraging safe digital behaviours and making it easy for employees to report suspicious activity.
- Another priority is investing more intentionally in protection by implementing layered security measures, adopting advanced detection technologies, and bringing in external expertise where needed to stay ahead of evolving threats.
- Finally, manufacturers must fortify supply chain resilience by improving transparency across their vendor ecosystem, verifying the security practices of key suppliers and conducting regular assessments of higher-risk third-party systems.
Together, these steps help organisations move toward a more proactive and robust approach to cybersecurity.
A defining moment for the industry
Manufacturers are at an inflection point. AI-enhanced attacks, deepfakes and increasingly targeted supply chain intrusions are reshaping the security landscape at a pace many organisations are struggling to keep up with. However, the industry is not standing still. With cybersecurity now elevated to the corporate agenda, the next step is building a culture and operating model that treats resilience as foundational to innovation and growth.
By embedding security into business strategy, manufacturers can close the readiness gap, and position themselves to thrive in a future defined by digital risk.
- Risk & Resilience