Half of small manufacturers in the UK have failed to increase cyber security investment in the past two years, according to a survey.
Research by manufacturers' organisation EEF found that 56% of businesses have not increased their spending.
A fifth fail to make employees aware of cyber risks, while only 56% say cyber security is given serious attention by their board.
Just over a third, or 36% of manufacturers, have an incident response plan in place, and only 24% monitor cyber threats.
EEF Chief Economist Lee Hopley, is urging manufacturers to step up their planning to counter the increasing number of cyber threats.
"As technology and data start to play increasingly critical roles in manufacturing, companies will inevitably find themselves more vulnerable to cyber breaches," said Mr Hopley.
"Our survey highlights that investment in new technology isn't being matched by investment in managing risks, especially among smaller firms.
"It is important that manufacturers are able to identify, understand and put the correct strategies in place to keep their businesses safe and cyber secure."
The Government has also called for industries to act to protect themselves while announcing it will launch a National Cyber Security Centre this autumn and spend £1.9m over the next five years.
Its research revealed that 90% of large businesses and 74% of small businesses reported cyber security breaches last year. Average breaches cost up to to £3.14m for large firms and up to £311,000 for small businesses.
A quarter of large firms come under attack at least once a month, according to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The research shows the most common attacks detected involved viruses, spyware or malware and could have been prevented using the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme.
A TalkTalk cyber attack last year cost the telecoms group up to £45m and triggered a sharp drop in customers.
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