New research reveals that increased spending on cybersecurity in the manufacturing sector may be misplaced and could lead to a false sense of security for manufacturing organisations. Findings suggest that while cyberthreats remain a serious concern, they are only directly responsible for 5% of production outages, while the majority of downtime, costing up to US$100,000 per hour, is caused by a widening ‘recovery gap’ – the ability to recover from internal operational failures such as network errors, configuration loss or change or planned maintenance gone wrong.
That is according to a new 2026 study by Macrium in partnership with research agency, Newton X. The study, which surveyed verified IT and OT decision-makers from manufacturing organisations across the United States, Canada and the UK, closely examines how manufacturing organisations approach system protection, backup and business continuity strategies.
High profile incidents such as the widely reported ransomware disruption at Jaguar Land Rover have underscored how severe cyber-related downtime can be when it occurs, often shutting down entire plants and supply chains. As a result, cybersecurity investment has become a dominant focus for many manufacturers.
However, Macrium’s research suggests this narrative masks a different day-to-day reality on factory floors. While nearly three-quarters (74%) of manufacturers experience downtime at least annually – and almost half of North American manufacturers and over a third in the UK estimate losses exceeding US$100,000 per hour – cyberattacks and ransomware account for just 5% of primary downtime causes.
