Manufacturing

Manufacturing sector data breaches expose employee personal records, and sometimes customer or business partner information, at factories, industrial companies, and their suppliers. Manufacturing has become one of the most frequently targeted industries for ransomware in recent years, since production downtime is extremely costly and companies are often under pressure to pay quickly to resume operations, which attackers exploit alongside data theft. These exposures can lead to identity theft and financial fraud affecting employees, and in some cases raise separate concerns about the exposure of proprietary business information, trade secrets, or supply chain data alongside personal data. Affected individuals typically include current and former employees, though breaches that touch customer-facing systems or business-to-business platforms can also expose data belonging to client companies and their staff. This page tracks confirmed data breaches at manufacturing companies, including what data was exposed, which companies notified regulators, and what affected individuals can do next to protect their identity.