Rockwell Study: Over a Third of Industrial Firms See Cyber Risk as a Growth Obstacle

More than one-third of industrial organizations see cybersecurity risk as one of the biggest external obstacles to growth, according to a study Rockwell Automation published on 22 September 2026 (Rockwell Automation press release).

What the study found

The report, “Operational Resilience in the Age of Connectivity”, was carried out by Sapio Research with Rockwell Automation. It surveyed 1,560 managers and executives in 17 manufacturing countries, at companies with revenue from $100 million to over $30 billion.

Beyond the headline finding, 46% of respondents said their organization had a cyber incident in the past year, yet 90% said they were confident they could prevent, contain or recover from one. 62% have already invested in cybersecurity platforms, and 45% plan to apply AI and machine learning to cybersecurity in the next 12 months.

Why it’s worth noticing

The gap between those numbers is the interesting part. Nearly half had an incident, but nine in ten feel confident. Rockwell’s own conclusion is that buying security technology doesn’t by itself make a plant resilient. Keep in mind this is a vendor-commissioned survey of perceptions, not a measurement of actual incidents or losses.

What smaller teams can take from it

Much industrial exposure starts with equipment reachable from the internet that shouldn’t be. Check what your public IPs expose with a port scan, confirm your certificates are valid, and read our guide to securing network equipment. The basics are cheaper than a new platform and close the most common gaps.