Manufacturing facilities are experiencing the highest rate of industrial control system attacks of any sector, according to a report released by cybersecurity firm SonicWall.

The 2026 Manufacturing Protect Brief found that while the total volume of cyberattacks on the sector has decreased, hackers are increasingly targeting specific vulnerabilities in operational technology (OT). A single vulnerability in Hikvision IP cameras, first disclosed in 2021, generated 43 million hits on manufacturing networks in the first half of 2026.

The report highlighted that IoT attacks are now the second-largest threat category for the industry, with more than half of manufacturing networks detecting exploitation attempts. The sector also recorded the highest detection rate for attacks on SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, which manage physical factory machinery.

“The factory floor is now part of the corporate network,” said Michael Crean, SonicWall SVP of Managed Services. He noted that many connected devices, such as sensors and cameras, run on legacy software that is rarely patched, creating entry points for attackers to reach production lines.

SonicWall’s data, drawn from over one million security sensors, also found that the Apache Log4j2 vulnerability remains a significant threat, generating 13.8 million events four years after its discovery. The firm recommended that manufacturers move away from broad VPN access toward “Zero Trust” architectures to prevent stolen credentials from affecting physical operations.