---
title: "Phishing Attacks In The Manufacturing Industry: Why Is It A Lucrative Target For Phishers | Phish Protection"
description: "Various industries have fallen victim to phishing globally, and the manufacturing sector is no exception due to decentralized IT infrastructure and fragmented."
image: "https://phishprotection.com/og/blog/phishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers.png"
canonical: "https://phishprotection.com/blog/phishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers/"
---

Quick Answer

Once the target opens a spoofed website or email attachment, \_the threat actors compromise the victim’s browser settings and modify them without their knowledge\_ and use the data available for monetary gains or resell it on the dark web. Due to evolving cyberattacks, cybersecurity professionals are continually looking for \*\*anti-phishing services\*\* and \[ransomware protection\](/products/advanced-threat-defense/) solutions.

Share 

[ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Phishing%20Attacks%20In%20The%20Manufacturing%20Industry%3A%20Why%20Is%20It%20A%20Lucrative%20Target%20For%20Phishers&url=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers%2F&title=Phishing%20Attacks%20In%20The%20Manufacturing%20Industry%3A%20Why%20Is%20It%20A%20Lucrative%20Target%20For%20Phishers "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Phishing%20Attacks%20In%20The%20Manufacturing%20Industry%3A%20Why%20Is%20It%20A%20Lucrative%20Target%20For%20Phishers&body=Check out this article: https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers%2F "Share via Email") 

![Phish Protection blog post image](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2021/01/phishing-prevention-7854.jpg) 

_Various industries have fallen victim to phishing globally_, and the manufacturing sector is no exception due to decentralized IT infrastructure and fragmented controls, besides many other reasons. Since the beginning of 2020, cyber intruders have exploited several manufacturing units’ vulnerabilities and used them for financial benefits and **brand impersonation**. Moreover, the lower degree of cybersecurity, policy enforcement, and lack of centralized visibility makes the task easier for malicious actors.

Once the target opens a spoofed website or email attachment, _the threat actors compromise the victim’s browser settings and modify them without their knowledge_ and use the data available for monetary gains or resell it on the dark web. Due to evolving cyberattacks, cybersecurity professionals are continually looking for **anti-phishing services** and [ransomware protection](/products/advanced-threat-defense/) solutions.

### Why Is The Manufacturing Industry Vulnerable?

_The manufacturing industry is highly vulnerable to phishing and other cybersecurity vulnerabilities due to outdated systems and policies_. The below section discusses such loopholes in detail.

- **Legacy Equipment**: The devices used in the manufacturing industry are usually old and not designed to maximize security. It makes the work easier for cyber attackers, and they do not require much effort for hacking into the systems.
- **Different IT Infrastructure**: Manufacturing units are located in separate locations, and each site may use different sets of technologies that differ in hardware and software. It causes the systems to be fragmented, and a single security framework will not apply to all.
- **Sizeable Financial Gain**: _The manufacturing industry is vast and contains a considerable amount of confidential employee information and other sensitive data_. Such data related to financial institutions, credit cards, bank details, and social security numbers can be sold or used for compromising other networks.
- **Industrial Espionage**: Compromising the manufacturing industry’s network can take place over time and allow malicious actors to modify the network information and ask for ransom in return for decrypting the data. Such attacks can also affect the suppliers and clients related to the industry and cause [panic among the manufacturing units](https://www.engineering.com/story/new-report-details-how-smart-manufacturing-is-vulnerable-to-attacks)’ stakeholders.
- **Lack Of Centralized Visibility**: _Security and data monitoring efficiency will only be at its full potential if one can view data flow from a single platform_. Since data flow is not integrated due to a fragmented structure, there are usually complexities and hidden loopholes, which the attackers exploit.
- **No General Policies**: Since the entire framework is vast and the different components are separated from each other, a single security framework will not be applicable. The rules and regulations designed for one unit in a particular location may not apply to another, which causes further sophistication while developing a cybersecurity framework.
- **Less Secure Encryption Techniques**: Manufacturing industries mainly deal with production and distribution and are not concerned directly with cybersecurity. Malicious actors utilize such vulnerabilities. These sectors may not have the workforce to _implement complex encryption techniques_ and may not know how to [prevent phishing](/).
![Phishing prevention](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2021/01/phishing-prevention-7854.jpg) 

### How Are Manufacturing Industries Attacked?

> “Zero-day phishing URLs have an average lifespan of just 12 hours before they’re added to blocklists. During that window, traditional signature-based filters are blind. Our real-time behavioral analysis catches these threats by pattern, not by signature - which is how we detect attacks that no database has seen yet.” - **Adam Lundrigan**, CTO, DuoCircle

The majority of **phishing based attacks** in manufacturing industries are implemented using web-based malware downloads that contain trojans and other malicious content. The malware further searches the target’s system for vulnerabilities and transfers such information to the remote attacker. Using the collected sensitive data, _malicious actors may demand ransom from the company or sell it to others_.

### How To Be Safe From Phishing Attacks?

**Phishing attacks** have been a headache for security professionals as it is a form of [social engineering technique](/resources/protection-against-social-engineering-phishing-and-ransomware/) that will keep evolving as technology grows. Here are some common tips and strategies to be cyber safe from modern phishing attacks.

- **Educating Staff**: The best method is to conduct [awareness sessions](/products/phishing-awareness-training/) and provide simulation training for the manufacturing industry employees. Moreover, staff should also be trained on the latest attack strategies and _be aware of identifying malware and reporting it promptly_.
- **Using Cybersecurity Solutions**: There are various in-built and **customized security solutions** available, customizable as per the manufacturing industry’s needs. Such [anti-phishing services](/products/advanced-threat-defense/) and **ransomware prevention solutions** also make the task easier for employees by identifying common loopholes and malware more efficiently.
- **Performing Security Checks**: Some phishing attacks may take more time to accomplish their malicious missions fully. Hence, if organizations perform regular security checks, they might identify such breaches at the initial stage and employ relevant mitigation measures.
- **Using Encryption**: Using _high-level encryption makes the data flow across various units safer and more efficient across the organization_. Such encryptions also make the decryption process more challenging for threat actors. Different encryption and decryption techniques can be used based on the amount of data and transferring medium.
- **Leveraging Firewalls**: The majority of cyberattacks originate from external sources, and using a firewall will allow the manufacturing industry to be secure to an extent. Firewalls will identify vulnerabilities and malware that employees cannot identify manually.
- **Implementing Multi-layered Security**: instead of using a single cybersecurity framework, a multi-layered system ensures that the security used is at its full potential. Such systems will use a combination of password-based and human and device-based authentication techniques.

### Final Words

Phishing is one technique that cyber attackers use worldwide. Due to the ease of implementation and high success rate, even novice attackers use phishing to target small businesses especially.

The manufacturing industry has been one of the most affected by such attacks due to a lack of skilled cybersecurity resources. To keep malicious actors at bay, one must religiously adopt [phishing-prevention tips](/content/phishing-prevention/), as mentioned above, along with a **robust security solution** for all-round protection.

## Topics

[ Phishing ](/tags/phishing/) 

![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/authors/brad-slavin.jpg) 

[ Brad Slavin ](/authors/brad-slavin/) 

General Manager

Founder and General Manager of DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across DuoCircle's 2,000+ customer base.

[LinkedIn Profile →](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin) 

## Protect your inbox from phishing attacks

Real-time email security with 60-day free trial. No credit card required.

[Start Free Trial](https://portal.duocircle.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=101&brand=phishprotection) [View Pricing](/pricing/) 

## Related Articles

[  Foundational 5m  0ktapus, Okta Breach Helps Attackers Launch Sophisticated Supply Chain Attacks  Sep 5, 2022 ](/blog/0ktapus-okta-breach-helps-attackers-launch-sophisticated-supply-chain-attacks/)[  Foundational 4m  13 Spear Phishing Attacks Examples To Justify Investment For Phishing Prevention Solutions In Your Organization  Aug 1, 2019 ](/blog/13-spear-phishing-attacks-examples-to-justify-investment-for-phishing-prevention-solutions-in-your-organization/)[  Foundational 4m  All 14 centers of Kettering Health were affected by a massive ransomware attack, Major outage in the Ohio medical center  May 23, 2025 ](/blog/14-centers-of-kettering-health-were-affected-by-massive-ransomware-attack-in-ohio-medical-center/)[  Foundational 4m  2021 Phishing Trends You Need To Be Wary Of  Aug 2, 2021 ](/blog/2021-phishing-trends-to-be-wary-of/)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://phishprotection.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://phishprotection.com/images/phishprotection-logo.png"},"description":"Advanced phishing protection and email security for businesses. Real-time threat defense, time-of-click protection, and seamless Office 365 integration.","parentOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138883901","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","sameAs":["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138883901","https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/duocircle-llc","https://www.linkedin.com/company/duocircle","https://github.com/duocircle"],"subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/company/duocircle","https://x.com/duocirclellc","https://www.facebook.com/duocirclellc","https://github.com/duocircle"],"contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","url":"https://phishprotection.com/contact/"},"knowsAbout":["Phishing Protection","Email Security","Anti-Phishing","Business Email Compromise","Ransomware Protection","Time of Click Protection","Office 365 Email Security","Advanced Threat Defense"]}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://phishprotection.com","description":"Advanced phishing protection and email security for businesses. Real-time threat defense, time-of-click protection, and seamless Office 365 integration.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://phishprotection.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://phishprotection.com/images/phishprotection-logo.png"},"description":"Advanced phishing protection and email security for businesses. Real-time threat defense, time-of-click protection, and seamless Office 365 integration.","parentOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138883901","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","sameAs":["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138883901","https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/duocircle-llc","https://www.linkedin.com/company/duocircle","https://github.com/duocircle"],"subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]}}}
```

```json
[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Phishing Attacks In The Manufacturing Industry: Why Is It A Lucrative Target For Phishers","description":"Various industries have fallen victim to phishing globally, and the manufacturing sector is no exception due to decentralized IT infrastructure and fragmented.","url":"https://phishprotection.com/blog/phishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers/","datePublished":"2021-01-14T09:10:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-17T15:43:10.000Z","dateCreated":"2021-01-14T09:10:56.000Z","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://phishprotection.com/authors/brad-slavin/#person","name":"Brad Slavin","url":"https://phishprotection.com/authors/brad-slavin/","jobTitle":"General Manager","description":"Brad Slavin is the founder and General Manager of DuoCircle, the company behind DMARC Report, AutoSPF, Phish Protection, and Mailhop. He founded DuoCircle in 2014 and has led the company's growth to 2,000+ customers across its email security product family. Brad's focus is product strategy, customer relationships, and the commercial and compliance side of email authentication (DPAs, SLAs, enterprise procurement).","image":"https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/authors/brad-slavin.jpg","knowsAbout":["Email Security Strategy","SaaS Product Management","Enterprise Compliance","Customer Success","Email Deliverability Business"],"worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://phishprotection.com"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin"]},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://phishprotection.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://phishprotection.com/images/phishprotection-logo.png"},"description":"Advanced phishing protection and email security for businesses. Real-time threat defense, time-of-click protection, and seamless Office 365 integration.","parentOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138883901","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","sameAs":["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138883901","https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/duocircle-llc","https://www.linkedin.com/company/duocircle","https://github.com/duocircle"],"subOrganization":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138898167","name":"DMARC Report","url":"https://dmarcreport.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897474","name":"AutoSPF","url":"https://autospf.com"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138897912","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://www.phishprotection.com"}]},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/company/duocircle","https://x.com/duocirclellc","https://www.facebook.com/duocirclellc","https://github.com/duocircle"],"contactPoint":{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","url":"https://phishprotection.com/contact/"},"knowsAbout":["Phishing Protection","Email Security","Anti-Phishing","Business Email Compromise","Ransomware Protection","Time of Click Protection","Office 365 Email Security","Advanced Threat Defense"]},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://phishprotection.com/blog/phishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers/"},"articleSection":"foundational","keywords":"Phishing","wordCount":923,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2021/01/phishing-prevention-7854.jpg","caption":"Phish Protection blog post image","width":1200,"height":630},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".answer-block","h1"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why Is The Manufacturing Industry Vulnerable?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The manufacturing industry is highly vulnerable to phishing and other cybersecurity vulnerabilities due to outdated systems and policies_. The below section discusses such loopholes in detail."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How Are Manufacturing Industries Attacked?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"> \"Zero-day phishing URLs have an average lifespan of just 12 hours before they're added to blocklists. During that window, traditional signature-based filters are blind. Our real-time behavioral analysis catches these threats by pattern, not by signature - which is how we detect attacks that no ..."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How To Be Safe From Phishing Attacks?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"**Phishing attacks** have been a headache for security professionals as it is a form of [social engineering technique](/resources/protection-against-social-engineering-phishing-and-ransomware/) that will keep evolving as technology grows. Here are some common tips and strategies to be cyber safe ..."}}]}]
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://phishprotection.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https://phishprotection.com/blog/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Foundational","item":"https://phishprotection.com/foundational/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Phishing Attacks In The Manufacturing Industry: Why Is It A Lucrative Target For Phishers","item":"https://phishprotection.com/blog/phishing-attacks-in-the-manufacturing-industry-why-is-it-a-lucrative-target-for-phishers/"}]}
```