According to a research report from a renowned company; between 2018-23, There’s been ransomware attacks against total 478 companies that operate in manufacturing industry. And these companies suffered blackouts that correspond to the loss of $46 billion.

In the manufacturing industry, blackout means, customer dissatisfaction and loss of status. And because of this, critical systems that’re used for day-to-day operations are needed to be protected from cyber-attacks.

Company that researches reports that:

• Attackers demanded ransoms that range between $5,500 and $50 million. Average of $11,2 million and total of $5,5 billion.

• Out of 478 companies only 4 of them are known to pay for the ransom.

• Blackout time goes from a couple hours to 76 days.

• Transport/automotive industry is the main target for these attacks, followed by electronics/appliances.

• “Egregor” and “Conti” were popular in 2020-21 but recent years are dominated by “LockBit”.

Some of the measures we need to take to protect ourselves from such attacks are;

• Firmware updates of IOT devices should be done regularly,

• Internet-connected IOT devices should be subject to security tightening,

• PKI and digital certificate verification should be used between devices,

• End user training should be given importance.