The High Cost of Cybersecurity Attacks: The Challenges Manufacturers are Facing

Welcome to the Industry 4.0 Club's fireside chat. The club's purpose is to engage the power of diverse worldwide talent to accelerate the global evolution to Industry 4.0. We accomplish this by hosting and supporting respectful, thoughtful, and interdisciplinary open conversations and creating quality content on wide-ranging Industry 4.0 topics to expand the reach of our community. My name is Mike Ungar, and I'm the CEO of the Industry 4.0 Club. I have over 40 years of leadership and manufacturing experience, most of that at Michelin. I'm joined today by my co-host Mike Yost. Mike is the chairman of the club, and Mike, would you like to introduce yourself for us, please?

Not a problem at all. Thank you, Mike, and welcome, Lisa. As Mike said, my name is Mike Yost. I'm the volunteer chairman of the club, one of the co-founders, and one of— and Mike's co-host here on our regular fireside chats. Been in industry almost 40 years, with the last 15 on the nonprofit side. And so as part of our role here, we look forward to engaging in open, diverse conversations, as Mike talked about. And so really excited that today we're going to be talking with Lisa Brown, who is the founder and CEO of the Platinum Technology Group. Lisa will be presenting at the MD&M West event at Anaheim, California on February 3rd, 2026. The title of her presentation will be The High Cost of cybersecurity attacks, challenges that manufacturers are facing. So we'll get a little bit of a glimpse here of who she is and what she'll be speaking about at the event. So just let me give you a little bit of background on Lisa. As I mentioned, she's the founder and CEO of the Platinum Technology Group, which is a boutique technology firm dedicated to safeguarding networks and empowering organizations through innovative, cost-effective solutions. With over 35 years of proven success in sales and more than 15 years as a trusted technology advisor in state and local governments, Lisa has built a reputation for driving growth, building strong client relationships, and delivering measurable impacts. Lisa began her career at Oracle, and throughout her career, she has demonstrated a track record of scaling high-growth technology companies through strategic planning, market expansion, and operational excellence. She's adept at leading teams, developing go-to-market strategies, and fostering a culture of innovation that inspires high performance and sustainable growth. Her experience spans cybersecurity, database, cloud management, telecom, AI solutions, serving both public sector federal government and enterprise clients. So Lisa, we welcome you to the club. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you for having me, Mike and Mike. It's a pleasure.

I just want to remind everybody that if you're with us on LinkedIn, please go ahead and ask questions, comment as you like, and we'll do our best to include any questions or comments into the flow of our conversation.

So thanks, Mike and Lisa. Again, welcome. We're glad to connect. You know, as a side point, Mike, I guess in the intro, Lisa is actually going to be presenting twice at MD&M West. She's going to be doing both this presentation. She's also going to be helping us lead a workshop on the 2nd on cybersecurity. So there's a lot to— a lot we're going to see her a lot at the event. So, Lisa, just want to get started with some questions to kind of understand and share some things with our audience about cybersecurity. So these days, you know, next to listening to every day a conversation about AI, it certainly comes up quite often. Cybersecurity is really talked about, I would say, right up there with, with AI. Um, why is that? Why do manufacturers need to care about cybersecurity?

Well, you're absolutely right about the, the hottest topics nowadays is AI, but cyber is right along with it. And I can give you about 5 reasons why manufacturers should care, but more importantly, cyber is everywhere in everything that we touch, the amount of data, the technology. But so this year alone, Bridgestone had a cybersecurity breach, and that disrupted the whole North American facilities where it was incidents that was quickly contained, but— That was one of them. And regarding testing their vulnerabilities, Nucor Corporation in May of 2025 was another manufacturing company that had a breach, and that company had to shut part of its network down due to that and activate their incident response procedures. So that temporarily suspended production. So at some of the facilities, so we know what that can cause then. Massimo is a medical manufacturing company. They had a breach as well in April of 2025 for what their internal networks breach impacting manufacturing operations and order processing. So they were quickly able to isolate that by engaging cybersecurity experts. Then we had National Presto had a breach in March of 2025.

Wow.

So that was a ransomware-style attack. And then a smaller manufacturing company called Crystal D in March of 2025 had a fulfillment problem briefly forcing temporary system outage. So those are 5 brief examples of why manufacturing companies should care, why it's important, and how it's affecting them. And all of this affects the bottom line. And, you know, it's something that companies really need to look at, and it's not if, it's when, and being able to really be proactive because it just touches so many layers within the manufacturing industry.

So, Lisa, those are all very pronounced, stark wake-up calls if folks are not paying attention to the topic, for sure. And I'm wondering how you engage with manufacturers? Like, what are they— is there a particular strategy or path that you put people on? Like, how do people even get their arms around this short of saying, you know what, I'm not going to go digital, right? In order to avoid this, I'm going to just not be digital.

Well, we cannot not go along with the changes in technology, and we see decades ago what that's done to companies. They're out of business. So look at Blockbuster when they decided not to go along with what was changing in the industry. But with that being said, you need to know where you're vulnerable at first in order to figure out the plan. So what— one of the things that we do at Platinum Technology Group is making sure clients understand their vulnerabilities. So with that, you know, we do a cybersecurity vulnerability evaluation. We do assessments that come in within the manufacturing organization and look at the whole picture to see maybe what's being done right, where you need improvement, what's more critical areas, and then we can go from there. And that's what the team of our engineers will be coming in and do that. And that's where we can start to build a plan working with our clients, working with manufacturers. It doesn't make a difference with size if it's a small, medium size, or large. we can all have the same approach, but we have to know where you're vulnerable at before you know what and how to protect your environment and where their needs are.

And I'm just curious, sorry, Mike, to keep the microphone.

Jump in.

Who do you typically engage with from a role perspective? Is it usually the information technology group? Do you get with business ownership leadership? Is it like, where are people who reach out to you for help, where within the structure of the organization typically do they reside?

So typically, you have 2 parts, because there's the end user or the security team, the, the, the IT department, the manager, and then you have the business side of the house. Because if this is not functioning right, or there's a breach, it's always going to affect the C-suite side of the house. So most of the time, through an incident, a project, a pain point that the end user and the security team is having, or somewhere with application, whatever the department it is, they're also working with myself. They reach out, but then also with management to then come in and assess what's going on with the breach. If it's a breach, that's typically everybody, but definitely within the technology team, the security team, they're reaching out to then engage to see how we can help with— their pain points.

And just on that point, sorry again, Mike, are you typically brought in after there's a breach, or do people bring you in proactively ahead of time?

Well, we like when people bring us in proactively, but you know, there's always people who don't believe that this is going to happen or like, no, it can't happen to me, or it's not going to happen to me. And I, you know, I do an analogy like healthcare. I'd rather go to the doctors when I have a slight headache Or slight pain versus when I need the surgery. It's the same thing with cybersecurity. Again, it's a matter of time when it's going to happen. So being proactive really makes a difference. So we like to get in front of things before to have a plan to help, but we're also there for people when it actually happens. So it just— we do both and people reach out through both because again, you always have people. And I've spoken to them about how we can come in, what we can do. ahead of time. And, you know, for whatever reason, they put it off until they actually have an incident. Sure.

Thank you. That's, um, yeah, it's, uh, your, your point about— we have this all the time, right? You know, um, you mentioned medical is a great example or a great analogy. You know, we— the doctors encourage us to have an annual physical, like to go in when we're well so that we can see if something's wrong. It's the same sort of analogy. Rather than always just showing up when you're sick. So it makes the same kind of— it makes a lot of sense. So what— so you mentioned earlier when you went through those examples, and maybe from your experience, what are some of the common risks that manufacturers tend to face in the area of cyber? Because, you know, it seems to me it's quite simple, like just don't let anybody else get access to your network, or what am I thinking about here?

Well, I wish it was that simple not to have access, but everybody has access. We have the internet and everything is tied to a network.

That's right.

But with that being said, some of the major risks that manufacturers are facing— ransomware by far is one of the major issues that's happening across the board. Attacks, they shut down operations and lock critical systems. So with the ransomware attacks, we all know what that is, is they want to shut things down in order for exchange that you have to pay us a certain amount of money In order for them to open up the network or open up where you have controls again. So that is by far one of the biggest risks that manufacturers are facing. Another one is legacy systems. So, you know, Mike, why you mentioned about people who don't want to go over to the digital side, there's a whole lot of old legacy systems that are making manufacturers and companies susceptible to breaches. So. on the plant floor, they were never designed with security in mind. So you think about the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, you think about Microsoft, it always elevates. So I shared this with a group last week that, you know, Windows, the iPhones, you're on an old iPhone. I know some people that are on phones that are 10 years old. Well, guess what? That software can't be updated. It can't be patched. You know, Microsoft Windows 11, if you have Windows 10, your stuff is out of date. It can't be updated, can't be patched, it can't be secure. So in terms of what happens when you're on these old systems, now you're leaving yourself open. Your door is literally wide open for the bad actors to come in and get access to your critical information, all of your information. So that's one of the reasons why it's important to now come over to, you know, 2025, or at least in the last couple of years of new systems that can be updated properly and patched properly so it's secure. And then you have the IT and OT convergence. Operational systems become connected, the attack surface grows, and then phishing and social engineering. We also know about phishing. That is so key. I mean— Everybody right now in manufacturing, especially it's the holidays, people are getting packages delivered. Companies, manufacturing companies are providing the, you know, the things in the packaging that everybody's shipping. All of these are critical areas where the cybercriminals are looking to get access and trick people in, whether hitting a link an email with phishing to get access to critical information, spread malware, and get money from either your customers or yourselves, or stop productivity. And then a big thing within the manufacturing community is third-party and supply chain risk, where vendors and partners become the weak link. So think about that. I can give an example of here in LA at the Ports. So I know no one's probably thinking about this, but you guys may, because when you manufacture things, things get shipped internationally across the world, across locally within the United States. Most of the time, a lot of these products come within ports. The ports get breached all the time, sometimes from overseas hackers to stop that. So when you think of the supply chain risk, that's an example. And then finally, lack of visibility. Many organizations don't know what assets they have, so, or which systems are exposed. So again, Yeah, yeah. Going back to making sure, coming in, doing an assessment. And if you don't know when the last time you've had a vulnerability assessed in a risk assessment, we need to come in. You need to be able to have that so you know where you're vulnerable and then you know how to move accordingly. So those are some of the major risks that manufacturers are facing right now in cyber.

Well, thank you for that, Lisa. I just want to remind everybody, if you're with us on LinkedIn at the moment, we are talking currently with Lisa Brown, who is the founder and CEO of the Platinum Technology Group. We are talking about cybersecurity attacks and the challenges that manufacturers are facing ahead of an upcoming event that Lisa will be part of. of more than just one presentation coming up in February in Anaheim. So if you have questions or you want to contribute to the conversation, please go ahead and put your comments or questions in. I guess, Lisa, sticking with the— you mentioned ransomware and, you know, the risks that manufacturers are exposed to. Certainly nobody wants to get hacked. If it happens and you get the call, or people maybe before you get the call, if somebody is hacked, and they have to deal with ransomware, what should they do?

So I wouldn't panic, even though probably some people will panic. Don't panic, but you need to immediately isolate the affected area so it doesn't spread through other systems. So that's really important, especially if you think about a manufacturing plant, a factory or anything like that. And then activate your incident response plan. So again, I don't know if— how many companies have them, or if you haven't— don't have one in place, you need to have a plan in place for it if you do get hacked or with the ransomware. So having an incident response plan is critical. Bring in the experts. So, you know, I guess whomever you may know, or someone like myself, we have teams that would be able to help remediate that and then engage again cybersecurity professionals, legal, Get legal counsel involved, as well as insurance. So cybersecurity insurance is a thing, and it's helpful. But again, in order to have cybersecurity insurance and have it to pay out for incident, the cybersecurity insurance carriers want to make sure that you have taken proper precautions to mitigate a risk and have done certain things. So it's really important Again, nowadays that companies are being proactive and showing that they have taken the proper precautions with that. So those are some of the things. Avoid trying to rush to pay out a ransomware directly. I know it sounds crazy, but you don't want to immediately pay the ransomware payment because it doesn't guarantee that you're going to get your information recovered. And for its legal and regulatory issues, that can also be a problem. But then after the recovery, conduct a post-incident review to really understand what happened, where it happened, so you can be able to close the security gaps, update an incident response plan, and then backup— have a backup strategy. So backing up your information that helps So those are some of the things that you can do when you do have a ransomware attack.

Thank you for that. I was going to ask you about the insurance, so I'm glad you went into that.

Yeah. Yes. Yes. So cybersecurity insurance, it's different than regular insurance. Not every insurance broker or insurance company provides it. So I do know some, Companies that specifically deal with cybersecurity insurance. So it's something that, you know, I can share more information or, you know, later on, but it's definitely something that's out there. A lot of companies, depending on who you do business with too, are requiring you, the companies, to have cybersecurity insurance. And the government also, for people that they do business with, also require you to have cybersecurity insurance. So. Definitely can share more later about that as well.

Thanks.

You know, I was thinking about— we talk a lot in Industry 4.0 about the impact people have versus the impact of that technology. And we often talk about the fact that most of the time when an Industry 4.0 project fails, it's due to people or not having addressed the change management and the people side of the project. Rather than the technology side.

Yeah.

Is it, is it the same for cybersecurity? When you have a cyberattack, is it normally because somebody did something versus, let's say, a problem with the technology?

Yeah. So it's good that you bring up that point. So over 60% of cybersecurity breaches are due to human error, something that was done. So it's really important to have cybersecurity awareness training quarterly. For different companies, it can vary of how someone can come in and train. There is automated training that can be done. But with that being said, bad passwords are a huge reason for cybersecurity breaches and attacks. So, you know, some of the things I, you know, I do an analogy of, you know, the Swiss cheese where there's multiple holes. Cybersecurity is not a silo thing. It's multilayered. I'll give an analogy of where you know, people have smart devices, and you are probably not even thinking about this. Our TVs, Alexa, our refrigerators, our stoves, our smart— a lot of these things are smart devices. Well, through the internet access, those are ways that the bad guys can get in through your networks that you won't even be able to imagine. Passwords, not having multifactor authentication. And I do a little Swiss cheese analogy. You know, Swiss cheese has what, about 5, 4 different holes in it? And if there is just one hole that's not covered, not patched, not updated, that you forgot about— and you think of a plant, a manufacturing facility. So there's so many different layers and ways that if you don't have something in place—

Yes.

that you can be breached. And I know this sounds— this is going to be funny. So, um, I'm babysitting my daughter's dog, and this is truly an analogy about cybersecurity and multi-layers. 1:30 in the morning the other night, the dog is barking like crazy. It hears everything. And I'm like, what is going on? Like aggressively barking. I go downstairs and I'm like, what is going on? He's standing at the door barking like crazy. But I hear, I hear people outside. So if just like your home security and the different layers, I have a gate, I have actually home security. But guess what? The dog was barking way before anybody could even get to the first gate, let alone through the gate, let alone at my door where the camera, where the alarm system would have went off. So cybersecurity is It's very similar in ways that it's multilayered. So if, if you have something in place over here with your network, your firewall, with the email, the training, those are all the different ways to be able to prevent that first layer. If— thank God they wouldn't have been able to get at the gate with the dog. But in terms of cyber, if someone is able to get through, let's say, one layer, Then if you make it where they— with security protocols in place that they can't get through the 2nd layer, you stop them. That is the goal. So that is the same way with manufacturers, with businesses. It's multilayer approach. They can do things to prevent it. It's so much cost effective in the beginning to be able to take those precautions, but that is— what cybersecurity is about, its multilayered approach for businesses, for manufacturing. Because also with manufacturing, you're working with the public, you're working with the vendor, you don't know what they've done to protect their information. And then now you're working with them, and somehow if you're not protected, they may have been exposed, and now you can be exposed as a result. But if you're protected, then it stops at your door, even though they may not have the proper protocols in place. Yes.

Well, appreciate that. I'll stop yelling at my dog for barking at night like she's prone to do.

Yes, they're good for us.

That's right. Just wondering, for those— certainly we would encourage everybody to come and join the MDNM West session in February and attend your session. Those who do attend, what would you hope that they, they learn from your session?

Well, I would hope people learn that cybersecurity is a journey. It's not a checkbox. The goal isn't zero risk. It's managed risk. So it's really working across your organization so that everybody is on board. Focus on what matters most to operations built over time. Strong cybersecurity starts with leadership awareness. So again, back to bringing awareness.

Yeah.

You know, the leaders sometimes on it, this executive suite versus the end users, they're thinking about the money. Well, long, big picture, this is about the money. This is how we can protect you so your business doesn't stop. So that's important. And over time, you know, you, you want to make sure you invest in the right— have the procedures and policies and training in place. And remember that the most secure manufacturers are not the ones with the most tools, but the ones that best have a strategy awareness that they can implement and train. So I really want to be able to make sure I arm people with knowledge, information, A course of action that they can take so they can go into, you know, 2026 really armed. But then also AI is a part of all of this. So we really have to go hand in hand. AI and cybersecurity is going to go hand in hand in, in preventing or causing some of the cyber breaches out there.

Thank you for that.

That's excellent. So we've been talking for the last 25 minutes or so with Lisa Brown. Lisa is going to be presenting at NGNM West in February. And she's a— she's what I would guess call a cybersecurity expert. Certainly having talked for 25 minutes now, certainly sounds like you have a lot of great knowledge. As we get ready to wrap up, Mike, you maybe have a final thought on what you've heard this afternoon for our audience, and then Lisa, maybe A final thought from you as well. So, Mike, start with you.

Yeah, sure, absolutely. Um, I think one of the final points that, uh, um, Lisa mentioned really resonates with me— the idea that cybersecurity is about managed risk versus zero risk. Um, you know, I think we're all learning to be digital, personal lives and, and professional lives, and, um, so that comes with it, right? There's a level of, um, maturity that we all have to go through. And so I think that, that idea of managed risk versus zero risk would be my big takeaway from today's discussion.

Thanks, Mike. Lisa, final thoughts for our audience today?

Um, you know, jump on board. Please don't think it can't happen because it's a matter of if, not when. And you want them to go to somebody else's house, not yours. And it's, it's definitely cheaper. On the front end to be— take the preventive cautions. And here's a final thought. So when someone has actually had— when you've been breached, they've been in your system, your network, for at least 90 to 120 days. So I always give people this analogy. Just imagine you're in your house and someone has been in an attic, a closet, or a spare room that you never use, or your basement. For 90 to 120 days before you even realize that they're there. And then once you realize it, the cost associated— now, small businesses is about $20,000, just, just the cost of it to have to pay out or something. For larger companies, we know it can get into the millions. But then it could take months even after to be able to repair and recover from that. So with that in mind, is definitely so much beneficial if you kind of take the, you know, preventive measures and have a plan versus waiting for something to happen.

That's excellent advice. Thank you for sharing that. So, thank you, Lisa, again for sharing a little bit about what you're gonna be speaking about at NGNM West on February 3rd at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. We hope that you'll join Lisa. and the Industry 4.0 Club will be out there as well at the event. To register, here's the website. Please go to the website, sign up, and we hope that you join us in California. The Industry 4.0 Club would like to encourage you to take action. Attend this webinar— I'm sorry, attend the session that Lisa is going to be sharing with us live or attend her workshop. Read a book, read an article, or encourage your company to start a smart manufacturing roadmap. There's a lot you can do to help deploy Industry 4.0. We'd love to hear about what you're doing, so please drop us a note on our website at www.industry40club.com or our LinkedIn page and let us know what you're doing to help advance the deployment of Industry 4.0. We also host conversations like these every week or so. So if you'd like to be on a future broadcast, let us know by contacting us again on our website, www.industry4oclub.com, or our LinkedIn page. And with that, Lisa, thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule to join us today.

Thank you.

And Mike, thank you as well.

Of course. Thanks, Lisa.

Thank you both for having me. Thank you.