IT Support & Cybersecurity for Manufacturing Companies

Between January and September 2025, over 4,700 ransomware incidents were recorded globally, with half targeting critical infrastructure sectors including manufacturing (KELA, 2025). These are the threats Canadian manufacturers face most often.

Manufacturing environments are tightly connected — ERP, shipping, inventory, and email all feed production. Ransomware locks these systems and halts output. Even a short outage delays orders, disrupts schedules, and creates downstream customer and supplier problems.

In a published case study, a Fusion client experienced ransomware on a Friday evening. Systems were isolated, backups verified, and the business was fully operational by Monday morning — 100% of data recovered, $0 ransom paid. Read the full case study.

Manufacturers share systems, portals, and data flows with suppliers, logistics partners, and vendors. If outside credentials are compromised or stale access isn’t cleaned up, attackers enter through a partner relationship rather than a direct attack.

Plant-floor devices and connected equipment sit alongside office IT. Without segmentation, a compromised workstation or remote-access path can create exposure across environments. Manufacturers need clear separation between office, warehouse, and plant-adjacent infrastructure. Over one in five organizations reported a cybersecurity incident affecting OT systems in the past year, and 40% of those incidents caused operational disruption (SANS ICS/OT Cybersecurity Report, 2025).

Attackers impersonate suppliers, customers, or executives to redirect payments or deliver malware. Manufacturing payment chains move quickly and involve multiple people — exactly the conditions BEC thrives in.

Manufacturing IT support can’t come from generic office-focused providers who underestimate what’s at stake. Production schedules depend on ERP, shipping, and network systems staying available around the clock — including second and third shifts. Plant and warehouse environments add shared devices, scanners, wireless coverage, and segmented networks that require tighter operational control than a standard office.

Fusion has supported Canadian businesses where uptime, security, and accountability matter since 2012. Our CEO holds the CISSP certification — your security posture isn’t guided by a generalist help desk — it’s led by senior cybersecurity leadership. We align services to CIS Controls v8.1, giving your business a defensible baseline for insurance applications, vendor questionnaires, and day-to-day control hygiene.

Certified security leadership

Office PCs, shared terminals, warehouse scanners, label printers, tablets, and mobile devices — all configured, patched, monitored, and policy-enforced. For connected devices on the IT side of the boundary, we focus on isolation, access controls, and update coordination.

We support the IT infrastructure your business systems depend on — workstations, servers, networking, backups, identity, Microsoft 365, and user access. We coordinate with your ERP vendor for application-layer issues while keeping the underlying environment stable and secure. We commonly coordinate around ERP environments such as Epicor, SAP Business One, SYSPRO, Fishbowl, and JobBOSS, handling infrastructure while your vendor handles application-layer issues.

We design and maintain network infrastructure that separates office IT from warehouse and plant-adjacent environments. VLANs, firewall policy, wireless segmentation, and access controls prevent a compromised endpoint from reaching systems it should never touch.

Fusion secures the surrounding IT environment and the boundary controls around plant-floor systems. We don’t manage PLC or SCADA logic directly.

When an operations manager can’t reach the ERP, a shipping workstation fails before a carrier cutoff, or a plant terminal loses connectivity — one call, one technician who already knows your environment. 93% resolved on the first call.

Manufacturing doesn’t stop at 5pm. We provide after-hours monitoring, ticketing, and escalation paths that account for second and third shift operations. We structure monitoring and escalation around your production schedule, not standard business hours.

Endpoint protection, MDR through Huntress, email security, vulnerability management, MFA, backup oversight, and response coordination. The goal: a workstation or identity issue shouldn’t become a business-wide outage.

Encrypted, air-gapped backups with tested restores. Not just software installed in the background — it’s actual recovery readiness so ERP data, file shares, order history, and business records can be recovered cleanly under pressure.

Privacy Obligations

This content is informational and doesn’t constitute legal advice. Manufacturers often handle employee records, payroll data, customer information, and supplier data. Depending on your activities and jurisdiction, your business may be subject to PIPEDA, Canada’s federal private-sector privacy law, and/or provincial privacy obligations. Where a breach creates a real risk of significant harm, businesses may need to report it, notify affected individuals, and keep breach records for at least two years. Fusion’s incident response processes, documentation discipline, and security controls support that operational readiness.

Supply Chain & Customer Requirements

Large customers, OEMs, procurement teams, and prime contractors increasingly expect manufacturers to show documented controls before awarding or renewing business. Common asks include MFA, access controls, backup verification, endpoint protection, vulnerability management, and incident response planning. Fusion’s CIS Controls v8.1 alignment helps create the documentation these questionnaires and reviews typically require.

Cyber Insurance & Regulatory Readiness

Cyber insurers increasingly expect documented controls around MFA, backups, endpoint protection, email security, and incident response. A structured baseline makes renewals, underwriting conversations, and customer due diligence easier. Manufacturers that operate in, supply into, or exchange sensitive operational data with federally regulated critical sectors should also expect cybersecurity expectations to keep rising over time. Breaches in Canada’s industrial sectors cost an average of CA$8.39 million in 2025 (IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report) — insurance readiness is not optional.

Manufacturing operations generate data at every stage — production, quality, inventory, maintenance, shipping. Fusion’s AI Services help manufacturers identify where automation, Microsoft Copilot, and intelligent workflows can reduce manual work, improve accuracy, and support better decisions. We start with a practical assessment grounded in your actual operations — not a generic AI pitch.