Heavy Manufacturing
A cyberattack on a manufacturer can stop the factory floor. Or stop every dealer from selling a single car. Often both.
Manufacturing is now the #1 ransomware target globally, with simultaneous exposure across OT production environments and the IT systems that run the business. Trusted by the world's largest automotive company to validate both.
Adversary emulation that validates IT/OT boundary defenses, production network segmentation, ERP and dealer systems, and supply chain security without disrupting operations.
Schedule a Demo OT/ICS Validation →The Threat Reality
Manufacturing is the most ransomed sector on earth and attackers have learned to hit both sides of the operation simultaneously.
Industry 4.0 has created two converging attack surfaces: the OT production environment and the IT systems that run sales, distribution, dealer networks, and supply chains. Sophisticated adversaries don't choose one, they hit both. A ransomware group that can stop a factory AND paralyze the dealer network that sells its output has complete operational leverage.
OT Ransomware
EKANS. Built to kill the production line.
EKANS/Snake ransomware was purpose-built to enumerate and kill ICS processes before encrypting. Honda, Norsk Hydro, and dozens of manufacturers suffered plant shutdowns costing tens of millions. The production floor is now a deliberate target, not collateral damage.
IT & Business Systems
CDK Global. 15,000 dealers. Zero sales.
The 2024 CDK Global ransomware attack froze car sales across 15,000 North American dealerships for weeks. ERP systems, dealer management platforms and distribution networks are equally high-value targets with equally catastrophic business consequences.
Nation-State IP Theft
Your R&D is their competitive intelligence.
State-sponsored actors systematically target manufacturing IP, product designs, proprietary processes, contracts, and pricing data. For defense manufacturers, intellectual property theft is an existential threat to contract eligibility and national security.
Supply Chain Attacks
One compromised supplier. 14 plants down.
A 2022 cyberattack on a single Toyota supplier forced shutdown of all 14 Japanese production plants for a day. JIT manufacturing means supplier system integration is deep; a compromised supplier is a direct pivot path into your production and business environments.
#1
Most ransomed sector globally; manufacturing surpassed financial services in IBM X-Force reporting
$250K
Average hourly cost of unplanned production downtime at a major manufacturing facility
15,000
Dealerships paralyzed by the CDK Global attack; production was untouched, but the entire sales channel collapsed
71%
of manufacturing cyberattacks target OT environments, yet most security testing never reaches the production floor
The Dual Testing Gap
Industry 4.0 created two attack surfaces. Most manufacturers have tested neither.
Smart manufacturing connected the production floor to enterprise IT networks, and enterprise IT networks to dealer systems, supplier platforms, ERP, and distribution channels. The result is two distinct but interconnected attack surfaces, each with its own vulnerabilities, its own threat actor techniques, and its own catastrophic failure mode.
On the OT side, testing live production systems carries operational risk, so most security teams don't do it. On the IT/business side, ERP systems, dealer management platforms, and order processing infrastructure are treated as IT problems and often get annual pentests that miss the lateral movement paths attackers actually use. CDK Global demonstrated that you don't have to touch a factory to cripple a manufacturer's revenue.
SCYTHE validates both: the OT boundary that protects production and the IT systems that protect revenue, continuously and without operational disruption.
Where Manufacturing Security Programs Break Down
OT environments are never security tested
Production networks run legacy PLCs and HMIs with known vulnerabilities, default credentials, and unencrypted protocols. Most have never been tested because the operational risk felt higher than the security risk. SCYTHE validates IT/OT boundary controls and segmentation without touching live industrial systems.
Business system attack paths are equally untested
ERP systems, dealer management platforms, order processing, and distribution networks are deeply integrated and deeply exposed. Attackers targeting CDK Global didn't need to compromise a single PLC to bring automotive sales to a standstill. Business system lateral movement paths are among the least validated in manufacturing security programs.
IT/OT boundary controls are assumed, not proven
Network segmentation is the primary defense between corporate IT and production OT. But segmentation is only as good as its implementation, and most organizations have never validated whether a compromised IT endpoint can pivot into production, or whether an OT compromise can reach business systems.
CMMC compliance doesn't prove adversary readiness
Defense industrial base manufacturers face CMMC certification requirements across both IT and OT environments. SCYTHE's adversary emulation exercises generate the documented evidence of security testing that supports CMMC Level 2 and Level 3 assessment requirements across the full hybrid environment.
The SCYTHE Advantage
Adversary emulation purpose-built for the environments that keep production running.
SCYTHE gives manufacturing security teams a way to validate their IT/OT defenses against real adversary TTPs, testing the IT/OT boundary, production network segmentation, and supply chain attack paths without disrupting operations or touching live industrial systems.
OT/ICS Validation
Validate IT/OT boundary controls without production risk.
Test whether your network segmentation, jump server controls, and OT monitoring actually contain a compromise at the IT/OT boundary, using ICS-specific adversary techniques without touching live production systems.
OT/ICS Validation →Supply Chain Testing
Map the attack paths your suppliers open into your network.
Emulate supply chain compromise scenarios, from a trusted supplier connection to lateral movement into production systems, to identify and close the access paths that just-in-time manufacturing dependencies create.
Operationalize CTI →Purple Teaming
Build detection for ransomware pre-detonation activity.
Run structured purple team exercises against manufacturing-specific ransomware TTPs, including the reconnaissance, lateral movement, and process enumeration behaviors that precede production shutdown attempts.
Purple Teaming →CMMC & Compliance
Defense industrial base compliance with documented evidence.
SCYTHE exercises generate structured evidence of adversary emulation testing, supporting CMMC Level 2 and Level 3 requirements, NIST SP 800-171 assessments, and DFARS clause compliance for DoD contractors.
Tabletop Exercises →Trusted at the Highest Level
SCYTHE is trusted by the world's largest automotive company to validate the security controls protecting its global manufacturing operations.
The world's most complex and tightly integrated manufacturing organizations choose SCYTHE because they can't afford to discover their defenses don't work during an actual attack. When your production environment is the target, the standard for security validation has to match the sophistication of the adversary.
Talk to a SCYTHE adversary emulation specialist about your manufacturing environment.
Schedule a Demo OT/ICS ValidationAct Before You Need to React
The ransomware group targeting your production line isn't waiting for your next security assessment.
Manufacturing organizations can't afford to discover their IT/OT boundary controls don't work when a ransomware operator is already moving laterally toward the production floor. SCYTHE gives your team the ability to find those gaps now, before an adversary finds them for you.