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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →MxD’s July 2024 report found a sharp gap between manufacturers’ reported confidence in cybersecurity and their reported safeguards: 76% said they had high confidence in their ability to prevent cyber risks and respond to attacks, while just 16% reported extensively detailed cybersecurity policies and 34% comprehensive system security plans. Those figures describe what survey respondents said—not independently tested security—and reflect fieldwork conducted in late 2023, not a 2026 benchmark.
What did the MxD manufacturing cybersecurity survey find?
MxD’s Behind the Firewall: Assessing Cyber Resilience in U.S. Manufacturing highlights a difference between perceived readiness and reported organizational practices. The 76% figure measures respondents’ confidence that their organization could prevent cyber risks and respond to cyber-attacks. It is not a finding that 76% of companies passed a security test.
The practices figures point to potential gaps in formal preparation. Only 16% reported extensively detailed cybersecurity policies, and 34% reported comprehensive system security plans. These are separate measures: a policy sets expectations and rules, while a system security plan documents how security is implemented for a system. The survey does not establish that one measure caused the other or reveal the security quality of any individual company.
| Survey measure | Reported result |
|---|---|
| High confidence in preventing cyber risks and responding to attacks | 76% |
| Extensively detailed cybersecurity policies | 16% |
| Comprehensive system security plans | 34% |
| Dedicated cybersecurity leader | 43% |
| Planning to increase cybersecurity spending in the upcoming budget cycle | 82% |
Figures are from MxD’s 2024 report and release; the spending figure is a stated intention around the survey period, not evidence that budgets later increased.
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How was the survey conducted, and what can it establish?
APCO Insight conducted the survey for MxD from November 30 to December 15, 2023. It included 750 senior-level cybersecurity decision-makers at manufacturing companies doing business in the United States. The respondent group included 630 small-medium manufacturers with 500 or fewer employees and 120 large manufacturers with more than 500 employees. Sector groups were aerospace and defense (106 respondents), the defense industrial base (102), chemicals (137), and other manufacturing (405). MxD notes that respondents’ views do not necessarily represent MxD’s views.
The report is a survey of opinions and reported practices. It is not a technical audit, penetration test, or independent verification of control effectiveness. The results show what these decision-makers reported during the fieldwork period; they cannot prove how secure the companies’ systems were or establish the manufacturing sector’s precise readiness in 2026. MxD’s summary says aerospace and defense led in preparedness, but the cited material does not support assigning a specific sector percentage.
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How many manufacturers had a cybersecurity leader?
Overall, 43% of respondents reported that their company employed a dedicated cybersecurity leader. The share differed by company size: 88% among large manufacturers with more than 500 employees, compared with 35% among small-medium manufacturers with 500 or fewer employees.
This is a reported staffing measure, not a direct measure of security capability. A named leader can help establish responsibility and coordinate decisions, but the survey does not show that every company with a leader had effective controls—or that companies without a dedicated role lacked all cybersecurity expertise.
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Cybersecurity risks can extend through suppliers, while manufacturers may also need to show customers how they manage risk. MxD found that 68% of respondents said cybersecurity requirements were embedded in vendor contracts, but only 31% rated those requirements comprehensive. Separately, 64% reported provisions to conduct vendor checks. The figures suggest that having some contractual language or checking provisions does not necessarily mean respondents considered their supplier controls comprehensive.
On the customer side, 74% reported moderate difficulty meeting cybersecurity requirements in customer requests for proposals (RFPs) and contracts. This is a report of respondents’ experience, not a measure of how many failed a requirement or lost a contract.
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Why might smaller manufacturers report less preparedness?
The clearest size difference in the reported findings is access to a dedicated cybersecurity leader: 35% of small-medium manufacturers reported one, compared with 88% of large manufacturers. That gap is consistent with smaller organizations having less capacity to assign cybersecurity as a dedicated leadership function, but the survey figures do not identify why each company made its staffing choices or prove a single cause.
For a smaller manufacturer, the practical lesson is to make ownership and process explicit even if the company does not have a full-time cybersecurity executive. A documented plan, clear responsibility for decisions, and a repeatable way to assess suppliers are the kinds of organizational priorities highlighted by the survey. It does not prescribe a particular software product or device.
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What do the findings mean for manufacturers now?
The survey’s confidence figure should be read alongside—not instead of—the reported controls. Formal plans and policies, leadership responsibility, supplier oversight, and customer contract requirements are useful areas for a company to review. But the 2023 responses, published in 2024, are historical survey evidence; they do not tell a reader whether a particular manufacturer is secure today.
MxD CEO Berardino Baratta said in the organization’s July 16, 2024 release: “We see a sense of overconfidence in our research results, which is concerning given that everyone is at risk, from the largest multinational to small- and medium-sized manufacturers who often lack the proper resources to protect themselves from cyber-attacks.” MxD Director of Cybersecurity Michael Tanji said: “Manufacturing sector cyber-attacks are no longer rare, one-off events,” also in that release.
For defense industrial base manufacturers, contract-specific obligations may matter in addition to general supplier and security practices. MxD says it guides manufacturers through CMMC; whether CMMC applies depends on a company’s contracts and requirements. See MxD’s cybersecurity resources for its service information.
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