Cyber risk management guide for authentication in manufacturing
Legacy air-gaps are gone. AI-driven threats are accelerating. Discover how global manufacturing leaders eliminate 99.99% of authentication risk across converged IT and OT environments.
The problem: “Threat actors don’t hack in—they log in”
Digital transformation and Industry 4.0 have brought unprecedented productivity, but they’ve also shattered the traditional air-gap protecting shop floors. Today, connected smart sensors, cloud platforms, and remote vendors bridge Information Technology (IT) with Operational Technology (OT), exposing physical assembly lines to devastating remote cyber threats.
The hard truth in numbers:
- #1 target worldwide: Manufacturing is the most attacked industry for 5 consecutive years, accounting for 27.7% of all global incidents.
- IT to OT connectivity: 72% of cyberattacks targeting OT systems originate from an IT entry point.
- The identity vulnerability: 34% of breaches involve stolen credentials, while phishable passwords and legacy OTP tokens remain prime targets.
- High-stakes cost: Unplanned downtime costs the industry an estimated $50 billion annually—with severe attacks averaging $1.9 million per day in operational outages.
Why traditional authentication fails on the factory floor
- Legacy system constraints: 78% of operational systems carry known vulnerabilities, and 25% rely on unsupported legacy software that cannot support modern cloud logins.
- Mobile-restricted workstations: Heavy machinery, gloved workers, and strict safety rules often prohibit smartphones, making mobile-based 2FA apps unusable.
- Phishable MFA gaps: Attackers easily bypass SMS codes, push notifications, and synced credentials using AI-powered phishing tools.
The solution: Hardware-backed phishing-resistance
To protect intellectual property, prevent line stoppages, and meet tough global regulations (like NIS2 and CRA), manufacturers need an authentication foundation that bridges legacy OT systems with cloud-native IT environments.
The Yubico cyber risk management guide for authentication in manufacturing delivers an actionable, 4-step framework to identify, assess, and eliminate authentication risk across every layer of your enterprise.
What you’ll discover inside this guide:
- Human-to-machine and machine-to-machine security: Why hardening critical boundaries across both human-to-machine and machine-to-machine communication with hardware-backed protection is essential in an era of sophisticated threats supercharged by AI.
- A multi-protocol bridge: How a multi-protocol hardware key supports legacy OTP and Smart Card protocols alongside modern FIDO2/passkeys—allowing you to secure legacy SCADA units and modern cloud portals on one device.
- The AAL3 security standard: Learn why NIST SP 800-63-B classifies only device-bound hardware security keys and Smart Cards/PIV as true phishing-resistant MFA.
- User-presence protection: Secure shared workstations, including DCS and SCADA systems, and privileged admin accounts without requiring cell phones, internet connectivity, or batteries.
- Software supply chain protection: Implement Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) alongside security keys to protect code signing and critical IP.
Proven enterprise impact
Upgrading authentication isn’t just a security safeguard, it’s an operational accelerator.
| Metric | Enterprise outcome |
| 99.99% | Reduction in cyber risk |
| 265% | Overall return on investment (ROI) |
| 90% | Fewer help desk tickets |
| > 4x | Faster login speed compared to typing OTP codes |
Sourced from The Total Economic Impact™ Of Yubico YubiKeys
Real-world proven resilience
“By leveraging the YubiKey and the YubiHSM… we increase the security of our supply chain at Schneider Electric.”
“YubiKeys are fast, robust and best-in-class… It’s much faster just to touch a key than entering a TOTP code.”
“Our aim was to eliminate account takeovers by adopting stronger MFA. Adopting YubiKeys has made it easy for us to continuously move our authentication strategy forward. Our goal is to enable passwordless authentication for all users in the future.”
Secure your operations today
Don’t wait for a compromised credential to take your production capabilities offline. Learn how to protect human-to-machine and machine-to-machine communications and safeguard your business operations.
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