Contain ransomware in IT, before it reaches the production floor.
Ransomware in manufacturing is measured in lost output. An attack on the file servers and systems production depends on can hold up a line, delay orders and ripple through your supply chain. Helm contains ransomware at the data layer, with no agents on production machines, so the plant can keep producing and the business keeps moving.
A factory runs on more than machines. Work orders, recipes, drawings, quality records and shipping plans sit on file servers and shares. Ransomware does not need to reach a single production machine to stop the line. Encrypting the files the line relies on is enough.
In Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, ransomware was present in 61% of confirmed breaches in manufacturing, and exploited vulnerabilities were the most common way in, at 38%. Sophos found that 40% of attacks on manufacturers ended in data encryption, with an average recovery cost of $1.3 million, excluding any ransom.
Lost production is felt well beyond one company. In 2025, a cyber incident at a UK carmaker suspended vehicle production for about five weeks. The Cyber Monitoring Centre estimated the cost to the UK economy at £1.9 billion, with thousands of UK organisations affected.
$1.9 billion
estimated cost to the UK economy of one carmaker’s five-week production stop (Cyber Monitoring Centre, 2025)
Many attacks on manufacturers begin in IT, through a stolen account or an unpatched server, and spread towards the plant. Operational technology (OT), the controllers and systems that run machines and lines, is often old, hard to patch and unable to run security agents.
That makes IT the place to contain the spread. When the files and servers production depends on are encrypted, the plant can lose output anyway, even if no machine was touched. Helm contains the attack at the data layer, on the file servers and shares in IT, so it is contained before it becomes OT downtime and production can keep running.
In the EU, NIS2 covers medium-sized and large manufacturers of machinery, vehicles, electronics, electrical equipment and medical devices, as well as chemicals and food, with incident reporting deadlines of their own. Our NIS2 overview explains what that means in practice. Automotive suppliers are often asked by their customers for a TISAX assessment. In the UK and the US, the pressure comes mainly from insurers, customers and the cost of downtime.
Helm works at the data layer, on the file servers and shares where ransomware does its damage. It needs no agents on endpoints or production machines, so nothing changes on the plant floor.
Detection combines independent sensors on file activity, and containment runs on fixed rules your team can read. Helm detects active encryption in under a second and contains the attack on the rules your team sets, with no AI involved in containment. Containment isolates the compromised accounts and devices behind the attack, so lines that are not affected keep running.
Helm adds the containment layer to the EDR, SIEM and security tools you already run, rather than replacing them.
Recovery is not done until it is verified clean. Helm verifies that systems are clean before they come back, so you restart production without restoring the attack along with it.
Every detection, containment action and recovery check is logged as it happens, with a timestamp. That record helps your team report under NIS2, answer your insurer and show customers how the incident was handled.
Ransomware will keep targeting manufacturers. Control starts before an attack, by knowing where it could spread. When it hits, the attack is contained in seconds and unaffected lines keep running. Afterwards, systems come back only once they are verified clean.
Your plant keeps delivering, and your team has the record to show how the incident was handled. Pharma manufacturers face the same risks, with validated production adding a quality dimension. To see what this looks like in your plant, talk to us.
