UK Manufacturers See Cyber Breaches Hit 30% in a Year

Nearly 30 percent of UK manufacturers experienced a cyberattack or a supply chain breach over the past year, an industry survey by MakeUK found, with companies reporting production disruption and higher costs.

The group said the incidents have translated into delayed output and added expense, while preparedness remains uneven across the sector. Only around half of the surveyed firms said they have formal incident response protocols in place, according to the findings.

Connectivity on the factory floor expands exposure

MakeUK linked part of the risk to the growing connection of factory systems, as manufacturers join operational technology and wider business networks to lift productivity and get faster visibility into performance.

That integration can also widen the routes attackers can use, the group said, and increases the potential for disruption if intruders gain access. Once systems are compromised, the same connectivity that supports efficiency can allow the impact to spread further across operations.

Supply chain attacks translate into delays and shortages

The survey included 123 manufacturers that said their supply chains were attacked. Of those, 30 percent reported delivery delays or reductions in output following the incidents.

Nearly a quarter of respondents in that group said they faced supplier delivery delays or component shortages after the network intrusions. Large businesses described repeated efforts by attackers to access corporate systems, adding to the pressure on security teams.

Jaguar Land Rover breach remains a key reference point The data comes almost a year after Jaguar Land Rover, described as Britain’s largest automotive employer, halted production for weeks after a major network breach.

Cyber Monitoring Centre estimated that the August 2025 incident cost the UK economy at least £1.9 billion, driven mainly by lost output at the automaker and its suppliers. The centre said it could be the most expensive cyber incident recorded in Britain.

British law enforcement previously concluded that Russian hackers carried out the intrusion. The breach led the company to shut down systems across all of its factories, offices, and retail operations.

Broader UK business targets and government cost estimates

Other major companies have also reported incidents in recent years. FTSE 100 manufacturers IMI and Smiths Group were attacked within days of each other in early 2025, while retailers Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, and Harrods reported costly breaches over the past year.

Officials have continued to point to state-sponsored actors, often backed by hostile nations, as a leading threat as they become more capable of bypassing corporate defenses. The UK government estimates cybercrime costs the economy £14.7 billion a year.

Jonathon Ellison, director of national resilience at Cyber Security Centre, said the agency is working to help organizations of all sizes improve their defenses. “In today’s landscape, no manufacturer can afford to treat cybersecurity as anything other than a business-critical priority,” Ellison said.