Industrial cybersecurity has meant walling off plant networks and watching control systems. Robots that run artificial intelligence models bring their own cameras, sensors, wireless links and update channels, and each is a way in for attackers. The machine, not the network, is now the thing to defend.
The scale of that job just came into focus. The global stock of industrial robots rose 9% to a record 5 million units in 2025, with 603,000 new installations, the International Federation of Robotics reported Sept 24. Investors had already moved. Nine days earlier, Rome-based Exein raised $270 million at a $1.7 billion valuation to sell security for robots, drones and other machines that run AI, TechCrunch reported.
The stakes on the factory floor are different from those of a data breach. A compromised robot controller can be manipulated like a hacked server, except it moves equipment and works next to people. In May, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Universal Robots disclosed a flaw in PolyScope 5, the operating system for the company’s collaborative robots. An attacker with access to a single network port could run commands on the robot without logging in, Manufacturing Business Technology reported. A fix shipped. Installing it is another matter, because updates to a production line mean downtime.
That delay is getting harder to afford. “Frontier models are pushing the patch window to zero,” Exein Founder and CEO Gianni Cuozzo said in a post on X. He told TechCrunch that the same supply chain that ships connected devices now ships phyiscial AUI, the industry’s term for AI that runs machines in the real world, and that Exein’s software covers robots, drones, self-driving cars and smart sensors running models at the edge.
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Investors Back Two Layers of Robot Security
Money is going to two kinds of defense. The first watches the network. Claroty, which maps and monitors cyber-physical systems in factories, energy facilities and hospitals, raised $150 million in a Series F round in January, SecurityWeek reported. Israeli business outlet Calcalist put the valuation at $3 billion. Nozomi Networks, Dragos and Armis, which ServiceNow acquired in April, compete in the same category.
The second layer sits inside the machine. Exein works with device makers and chip suppliers to build security into the hardware itself. Its software runs on more than 2 billion devices across industrial automation, automotive, energy, healthcare and aerospace, the company said in a blog post announcing the round. The new capital will fund a foundation model trained on two years of machine telemetry, which the company said is designed to let AI security agents respond to threats without a human in the loop.
Regulators and Insurers Set the Price
Brussels has already decided who secures a robot after it ships. The European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act, which covers connected products sold in the EU, began requiring manufacturers to report actively exploited vulnerabilities on Sept. 11. Its main obligations take effect Dec. 11, 2027, Industrial Cyber reported. Makers must provide free security updates for the product’s support period, generally at least five years, and state when that support ends, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security said. That makes security a post-sale obligation with a fixed minimum term, and the cost will show up in the robot’s price and service contract.
Insurers already know what lagging security costs. Cyber insurer Resilience reviewed nearly five years of manufacturing claims and found that more than 90% of losses in its portfolio came from ransomware, though ransomware accounted for only 12% of claims. Unpatched software drove the most severe events, and plant teams often can’t patch legacy equipment without halting production, the report said. Manufacturing has been the most attacked industry for five straight years and drew more than one in four attacks globally in 2025, Resilience said, citing IBM X-Force.
The exposure is growing where the machines are. China installed 354,000 robots in 2025, up 20%, and accounted for 59% of global installations, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The United States passed Japan as the second-largest market, with installations up 12% to almost 38,500 units. The IFR expects global installations to rise 9% to 655,000 units in 2026 and reach 806,000 by 2029. Every one of those machines will need a security plan and a line in the budget to pay for it.
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