Integris report: 60% of US manufacturers hit by email breach in 2026
Six in ten US manufacturing executives experienced a significant email-based security breach in the past year, according to the 2026 Integris Manufacturing Technology and Cybersecurity Report published on 24 June. The findings, drawn from surveys of 411 manufacturing executives and 600 consumers, point to an industry modernising rapidly under Industry 4.0 but struggling to secure the expanded attack surface that comes with it.
The report, produced by Cranbury, New Jersey-based managed IT services provider Integris, found that 49% of respondents also reported a mobile device breach in the same 12-month period. Notably, 84% of the surveyed firms already operate security awareness training programmes, suggesting that training alone is not sufficient to contain the volume and sophistication of incoming threats. Adoption of smart-factory technologies is broad: 44% have deployed robotics and automation systems, and the same proportion use AI and machine learning for predictive maintenance.
Breach landscape and consumer sentiment
The consumer-side findings add a commercial dimension to what is often treated as a purely operational problem. Eighty-three percent of consumers said they are concerned about cybersecurity risks at the manufacturers they buy from, and one in four stated they had already stopped purchasing from a manufacturer because of security concerns. When asked to rank purchasing factors, survey respondents placed data security third, at 32%, ahead of brand reputation at 30%.
Kyle Wewe, chief revenue officer at Integris, noted that the firms performing best are not necessarily those adopting the most technology. "The organisations seeing the most success aren't the ones adopting more technology," he said. "They're aligning strategy and the right partner to help ensure technology investments support business goals, strengthen resilience, and keep operations running smoothly."
A separate finding highlights a perception gap: when consumers were asked which manufacturers they associate with technological advancement, consumer-facing brands dominated. Apple was named by 52% of respondents, Tesla by 44%, and Amazon by 33%, while traditional industrial manufacturers barely registered. Integris argues this creates a competitive opportunity for industrial manufacturers willing to communicate their cybersecurity investment publicly.
Market context and regulatory backdrop
The Integris findings reflect a broader pattern in operational technology security that has attracted increasing regulatory attention. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has repeatedly flagged manufacturing as one of the critical infrastructure sectors most targeted by ransomware, and the sector ranked among the top three industries by incident volume in several major threat-intelligence reports published in 2025. The convergence of IT and OT networks in smart factories substantially widens the attack surface compared with traditional manufacturing environments, where production equipment was largely air-gapped.
On the regulatory side, manufacturers supplying the US federal government or its prime contractors are facing tightening requirements under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification framework, which mandates third-party assessment of cybersecurity practices. EU-headquartered manufacturers or those selling into European markets must also account for the NIS2 Directive, which entered force in October 2024 and introduced stricter incident-reporting obligations and board-level accountability for critical-sector operators.
Integris is backed by the private equity arm of OMERS, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, and describes its target market as small to mid-size businesses. The report is available to download via the company's website. The full methodology, including sampling approach and margin of error, has not been disclosed in the press release, which limits independent scrutiny of the headline figures.