Cybersecurity Becomes Manufacturing’s New Profit Center

Step onto a modern factory floor and you’ll hear more than the clank of machinery — you’ll sense the constant hum of data. Robots pivot in perfect rhythm, sensor arrays stream performance metrics, and AI-driven dashboards pulse with live updates. It’s all powered by operational technology (OT), and every new connection brings fresh opportunity… and fresh risk.

A decade ago, OT cybersecurity was an IT footnote — a cost center reluctantly funded to keep auditors satisfied. Now, according to Rockwell Automation’s latest State of Smart Manufacturing Report, it’s an executive-level KPI on par with throughput, safety, and cost control. Out of 1,560 manufacturing leaders surveyed across 17 major economies, a staggering 96% have either implemented or plan to implement an OT cybersecurity platform within five years.

“Cybersecurity is no longer just a technology issue — it’s a boardroom issue,” says Stephen Ford, vice president and CISO at Rockwell Automation. “As IT and OT become more connected, the attack surface is expanding… You can’t protect tomorrow's enterprise with yesterday’s tools.”

From Compliance Burden to Business Catalyst

The pivot is more than a cultural shift — it’s a financial one. Over half of respondents are rolling out OT security at scale, not merely to ward off breaches but to unlock new efficiencies. Hardened networks mean fewer unplanned shutdowns, faster audit prep, and clean, AI-ready data streams that feed predictive maintenance and automated quality control.

Security is now a growth enabler: tie risk reduction to higher uptime and better yield, and suddenly cybersecurity sits in the same funding lane as automation upgrades.

Six Trends Defining the Next Era of OT Security

1. Ubiquitous Platform DeploymentOT security platforms have hit critical mass, with 64% already in place and another third coming online soon. The differentiator is no longer if you have one, but how quickly it pays for itself.

2. Security as a Technology Investment TriggerFor 53% of manufacturers, securing OT assets is the spark for broader tech adoption. In some cases, security is the prerequisite for AI projects and real-time analytics.

3. Cyber Risk as a Top External ThreatThirty percent of leaders rank cyberattacks as one of their biggest external challenges — just behind inflation. That’s pushing boards to demand financial modeling of potential losses alongside mitigation strategies.

4. Secure-by-Design HardwareA third of respondents are prioritizing gear with baked-in security features — controller-level access rules, signed firmware, embedded telemetry — but this requires disciplined firmware lifecycle management.

5. Cyber Literacy as a Hiring BaselineEighty-one percent of manufacturers now see cybersecurity fluency as a high priority skill. For nearly half, it’s “extremely important” in hiring over the next year.

6. Culture as the Final BarrierA quarter of respondents say employee resistance slows adoption, and another quarter point to leadership’s lack of awareness. The fix? Embed security in the same cultural framework as safety — complete with training, drills, and recognition programs.

The AI Factor

The report also spotlights AI’s accelerating role in OT defense. Sixty-one percent of cybersecurity pros plan to deploy AI/ML security tools within the year — a faster adoption curve than any other manufacturing tech. For some, AI isn’t just an enhancement; it’s the only practical way to monitor sprawling, hybrid OT/IT environments in real time.

“Cybersecurity has become a business enabler,” Ford notes. “The most forward-thinking manufacturers are proactively leveraging advanced technologies like AI to stay ahead of evolving risks.”

Bottom Line: The data says the next competitive advantage in manufacturing won’t just come from faster robots or smarter sensors — it will come from the resilience of the networks connecting them. In 2026, the most profitable plants may well be the ones with the most impenetrable firewalls.