The majority of industrial organizations estimate their financial losses caused by cyberattacks at over $1,000,000, while almost one in four report losses exceeding $5,000,000, and for some, it surpasses $10,000,000. These findings were revealed in a joint study conducted by Kaspersky and VDC Research.
Securing OT with Purpose-built Solutions provides an in-depth analysis of the current state of operational technology (OT) cybersecurity. Based on a survey of over 250 decision-makers from energy, utilities, manufacturing, transportation and other sectors, the study offers insights into the key business and technical trends affecting industrial organizations, as well as the most effective strategies being implemented to address these challenges.
The research underscores that the financial impact of an OT cybersecurity breach is both complex and multifaceted. Organizations must consider a wide range of costs, including lost revenue opportunities, unplanned production downtime, scrap and loss of work-in-progress inventory, and damage to equipment or property. Beyond these costs, the total financial burden also encompasses direct breach-related expenses such as incident response — whether handled internally or by third-party providers — and ransom payments.
When accounting for all these factors, nearly 25% of survey respondents estimated that each successful cyberattack could result in damages exceeding $5 million over a two-year period. The distribution of these costs varies significantly across organizations and incidents but generally impacts multiple departments and influences both revenue and profitability.
The report details that incident response accounts for approximately 21.7% of total breach-related expenses, followed by lost revenue at 19.4%, unplanned downtime at 16.9%, equipment or property repair and replacement at 16.8%, ransom payments at 12%, and scrap or loss of work-in-progress inventory at 11.9%.
Notably, unplanned downtime emerges as one of the most significant costs: 70% of respondents reported that such outages typically last between four to 24 hours. These disruptions can lead to substantial revenue losses, internal process bottlenecks and diminished customer confidence—highlighting the critical importance of robust OT cybersecurity measures.
