The cyber security landscape continues to evolve, with new threats and solutions appearing every day. At the same time, the manufacturing industry continues to embrace cutting-edge technology, including the expanding IoT market. As AI-driven attacks grow more sophisticated, and AI-driven defences become more available, IT teams in manufacturers must adapt their strategies to stay resilient in the face of changing cyber threats.
Accelerating security and networking enhancements are continuing to take centre stage for UK manufacturers in 2025 but added complexity can slow them down. Adding simplicity as a key vector for networking and security posture optimisation is central to successful, secure connectivity strategies for the year ahead.
The growing threat of AI-powered attacks
In today’s threat landscape, cybercriminals are leveraging artificial intelligence to orchestrate attacks with unprecedented speed and accuracy. AI’s capability to identify vulnerabilities, craft hyper-realistic phishing scams, and execute complex malware campaigns is increasing the difficulty of threat detection and mitigation. One of the most concerning trends is the rise of “deep phishing” attacks, where AI-generated deepfake content is used to impersonate trusted individuals and deceive employees into revealing sensitive information.
Cyber breaches are already a top concern for manufacturers, downtime prevention and data protection taking centre stage, but what is more unsettling is not being aware when a breach occurs. The longer an attacker remains in the system – intruder dwell times can range from several weeks to months and even over a year – the more costly and damaging these “silent breaches” become. Being unable to identify when a breach took place means that restoring systems to a safe version is much harder.
To counteract these risks, IT teams need to deploy security tools capable of recognising behavioural anomalies and responding in real time to potential breaches.
AI – both a threat, and a safeguard
As the advent of AI presents new security challenges, it also offers us the tools to strengthen cyber defences. AI-based networking assistants and correlation engines are gaining traction, providing advanced capabilities in real-time threat detection and response. The potential for human-supported with various degrees of AI autonomy for secure networking deployments is being explored, which could change how manufacturing enterprises approach security and networking. By leaning into AI-led penetration testing, automated vulnerability mitigation, and self-healing network infrastructure AI is revolutionising security strategies.
With intuitive AI tools, security teams can gain deeper insights into vulnerabilities and rapidly address potential threats. This will be particularly crucial as UK based businesses face a growing cybersecurity skills gap, requiring intelligent automation to bridge expertise shortages and upskill quickly.
In 2025, we will see more businesses will turn to AI-driven security intelligence tools that allow teams to query complex security data using natural language interfaces. The democratisation of security intelligence through intuitive AI tools will empower non-experts to play an active role in cyber threat mitigation. This shift will be instrumental in fostering a culture of shared responsibility between IT and security teams, enhancing collaboration and improving overall security outcomes.
Building a response-ready security strategy
While traditional security strategies have focused on threat prevention, 2025 will also see a distinct shift towards rapid incident response. Companies will do well to prioritise detecting and containing breaches to augment preventive measures, increasingly allocating budget resources to solutions that enable swift incident identification and response. This shift reflects an understanding that breaches cannot always be prevented, and in reality, should be expected. Instead, mitigating their impact through rapid detection and containment will be the key to minimising damage.
One development that is representing this shift is the adoption of self-healing security systems. These AI-powered systems can autonomously detect, analyse, and respond to threats, significantly reducing response times and mitigating damage.
Indeed, using machine learning, self-healing networks can dynamically adjust a company’s cybersecurity measures based on real-time risk assessments. This self-healing security will be a game-changer, as automated incident response will supplement security teams and protect critical assets. AI and human partnerships can help manufacturers strengthen their overall resilience when facing a cyber-attack.
Navigating the evolving threat landscape in manufacturing
As cyber threats become more advanced, it will become increasingly essential to embrace a holistic approach to security, that can introduce simplicity for observability, control, management and response. Consolidating cyber defence, network and data management, and operational resilience into a single, integrated platform means that navigating the increasingly turbulent threat landscape becomes a more streamlined process. Access to and complete visibility over these systems and tools means that teams can identify risks and opportunities as a passive activity, and invest time into value-driving initiatives, as opposed to combing through multiple applications for status updates.
Ultimately, 2025 is the year where more AI-driven enterprise security strategies are moving from theory to practice. Manufacturers that proactively adapt to these emerging trends will be better equipped to withstand the ever-evolving demands and challenges of the digital age. For those wanting to stay ahead of the curve, it will require embracing automation, strengthening incident response capabilities, and continuing to hold security as a top priority.
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