Hacked fridges left at the factory: the cyber threat is all too real
The manufacturing sector accounts for 18.4 per cent of cyber incidents recorded in our country, compared with 5.4 per cent worldwide. In factories, 98 per cent of incidents have critical consequences
Fridges hacked remotely, food to be thrown away, departments out of action. France, which has been ravaged in recent days by rioters and acts of vandalism that have gone far beyond student protests, woke up to this on the morning of 12 October. The attack that struck hundreds of French supermarkets – from Intermarché to Coopérative U – during the night of 11–12 October has made the cyber risk all too real: all it takes is to disrupt the operation of a system to destroy stock and revenue. Hence the warning bell regarding the risk of a dangerous escalation. In Italia, the National Cybersecurity Agency has drawn the attention of the retail sector and the cold chain to obsolete systems, exposed internet access points and inadequate authentication.
Supermarkets are just like factories: cyber security now safeguards their ability to operate and produce. After all, to put pressure on a factory, all you need to do is shut it down. This is the economic lever that makes the manufacturing sector a target for cybercrime: every hour without production can mean missed deliveries, orders at risk and knock-on effects for suppliers. And unfortunately, the phenomenon appears to be gathering pace.
Algebraic proof of this is provided by the figures from Clusit’s latest in-depth analysis on the manufacturing sector, published on 9 September. According to the report, in Italia, there were 45 known incidents in the first six months of 2026, compared with 63 in the whole of 2025. Furthermore, 98 per cent of the incidents observed had consequences classified as high or critical.
Cybersecurity is thus becoming an increasingly important factor in industrial competitiveness. And an international comparison, looking at our own situation, highlights just how significant a role industry plays in the Italian context of cybersecurity issues. The manufacturing sector accounted for 18.4 per cent of the 245 incidents recorded in the country over the six-month period, whilst globally the figure stands at 5.4 per cent. This is more than three times the global rate, though this does not mean our factories are three times more vulnerable: factors such as the structure of production, the composition of the sample and the visibility of the attacks all play a part. Nevertheless, the signal remains strong. In 2025, the sector accounted for 12.4 per cent of incidents in Italy. If the pace seen over the six-month period were to continue, there would be around 90 cases in 2026. This is a projection, not a final figure, and it puts into perspective the idea that pressure might ease following the 8.6 per cent increase recorded in 2025.
Outside Italia, too, the figures are rising. CLUSIT recorded 267 incidents in the global manufacturing sector in the first half of the year, following the 400 recorded in 2025, which had marked a 69.5 per cent increase. The predominant motive is financial gain. In the first half of the year, 260 of the 267 global incidents were attributed to cybercrime; in Italia, the figure was 44 out of 45. Espionage, sabotage and activism played a minor role in the sample.
