Resilience's cyber insurance claims data from March 2021 to February 2026 reveals that ransomware attacks dominate financial losses in manufacturing, accounting for 90% of incurred loss while comprising only 12% of claims. The analysis identifies two primary security failure points leading to financial impact: software vulnerability exploits (13% of losses) and misconfigured MFA (26% of losses), with the latter being the largest single contributor to loss, including a major ransomware incident attributed to BlackCat. The report recommends continuous auditing and validation of MFA deployments, enhanced patching practices, and compensating controls such as network isolation and virtual patching. Transfer fraud and email compromise, often stemming from phishing and credential theft, represent 30% of claims, with suggested mitigations including out-of-band payment confirmations and dual authorization for large transactions. These insights enable CISOs to frame cybersecurity risks in financial terms to secure adequate funding and improve security posture.

The financial impact is substantial, with ransomware causing the majority of losses in the manufacturing sector. Misconfigured MFA alone accounts for 26% of financial loss, underscoring the criticality of proper MFA deployment. Software vulnerabilities contribute 13% of losses, highlighting patching deficiencies. Transfer fraud and email compromise, driven by phishing, represent 30% of claims, indicating significant exposure to credential theft and social engineering. These failures lead to costly ransomware incidents, operational downtime, and financial fraud, affecting organizational resilience and risk management.

Resilience recommends treating MFA validation as a continuous process, including auditing existing deployments to ensure enforcement, elimination of bypass conditions, and correct configuration of conditional access policies. Organizations should improve patch management cycles and implement compensating controls such as network isolation, virtual patching, and enhanced monitoring of vulnerable systems. To combat transfer fraud, implement out-of-band confirmation for payment changes and dual authorization for large transactions, alongside targeted social engineering training for finance and accounting teams. These measures align directly with the identified failure points and are supported by insurance claims data.