Survey data reveals the manufacturing industry adopts cybersecurity protections such as encryption into company policy at a higher rate than other categories.
Apricorn, the leading manufacturer of software-free, 256-bit AES XTS hardware-encrypted USB drives, announced findings focused on the manufacturing sector from the Apricorn 2021 Global IT Security Survey. The survey results demonstrate that IT professionals in manufacturing have a greater awareness of the cybersecurity risks that come from remote work when compared to professionals in other industries, such as education, financial services and healthcare.
“The manufacturing supply chain is something that consumers have become much more aware of since the start of the COVID pandemic, as products from silicon chips to gasoline have, at times, been very hard to come by. As such, any loss of company data or disruption to that data can likewise, cause a ripple effect, impacting production, resources, deliveries and of course, revenue,” said Kurt Markley, U.S. Managing Director, Apricorn. “Amidst the news of many data breaches and supply chain disruptions, I was pleasantly surprised to see that many IT professionals in manufacturing are proactively taking these ever-present threats seriously. Remote and hybrid workforces that operate without stringent cybersecurity policies and encryption technology are at an increased risk of breaches, lost and/or stolen data.”
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Employees who work in remote or hybrid positions in the manufacturing sector appear to be more aware of the heightened IT security risks and the cybersecurity vulnerabilities presented by remote work. Of note, 61% of respondents confirmed that individual employees working from home in the manufacturing industry think of themselves as targets that attackers can use to access company data. This is compared to only 30.6% in education and 47.9% in financial services whose employees view themselves as targets.
IT professionals in manufacturing also appear to be cautious of technology that poses additional risks, but stop short of further protection strategies. Nearly 98% of respondents in manufacturing say their organization has concerns about the data protection and the integrity of documents stored in cloud-based services. Yet when questioned about alternatives, only 34.15% say that encryption has been used when transporting devices and data, despite the fact that 68.29% say that encrypted USB storage devices should be used by their organizations.
“Hardware encrypted storage devices are a strong, complementary storage option for highly sensitive data that is stored in the cloud,” added Markley. “Data redundancy is critically important for continuity and business resiliency in the event of a breach or data-loss event. Many companies in the manufacturing industry are aware of the risks of remote and hybrid work. But there is still room to improve their risk mitigation strategies.”
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