A Practical Path to Stronger Cybersecurity in Manufacturing SMEs
Cybersecurity in manufacturing SMEs is not just about technology, but about maintaining an overview, setting priorities, and being able to act when something goes wrong. The following seven tools together form a pragmatic and proven approach that helps manufacturing SMEs protect operations, deliveries, and the business as a whole.
The tools are deliberately structured so that you:
- Understand the business
- Identify risks
- Prioritize dependencies
- Plan actions
- Train decision-making.
This ensures that cybersecurity becomes relevant, realistic, and actionable for manufacturing SMEs.
The seven tools are:
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
A BIA identifies which business processes and systems are most critical, and what consequences outages have for production, finances, and customers. It forms the foundation for all subsequent initiatives.
. - Risk and Vulnerability Analysis
This analysis assesses which cyber threats the company realistically faces and where vulnerabilities exist—both in IT and in operational technology (OT). It helps focus efforts where the risk is greatest.
. - Supplier Criticality Analysis
Manufacturing SMEs are often dependent on external suppliers. This analysis clarifies which suppliers are business-critical and how their IT or OT security can affect production.
. - Continuity Plans
Continuity plans describe how the company maintains or quickly restarts operations if systems or production are impacted. The focus is on practical solutions – even when IT is unavailable.
. - Scenario Planning
Scenario planning turns analyses into practice by working through realistic cyber incidents (e.g., ransomware or IT→OT propagation) and clarifying decisions, roles, and actions in advance.
. - Cyber Incident Response Planning
The cyber incident response plan brings everything together in a single operational playbook that describes how the company detects, handles, communicates, and recovers from a cyber incident.
. - Tabletop Exercises
Tabletop exercises test preparedness in practice without affecting operations. Management, IT, and production walk through a cyberattack step by step to ensure that plans, decisions, and collaboration function under pressure.