New research from Pathlock finds that nearly half (48 percent) of manufacturers fail to revoke access within 24 hours of a role change or departure. During spring production ramp-ups, when organizations are rapidly onboarding temporary workers, contractors, and third-party system integrators — many with privileged access — the impact of delay can compound fast.
This isn’t just a compliance issue, dormant accounts tied to former contractors or seasonal workers rarely trigger behavioral alerts, making them a low-friction entry point for credential stuffing, password spraying, and phishing. The research shows that 46 percent of reported security incidents were suspected or confirmed to be linked to governance gaps created during digital transformation — pointing to a structural exposure, not just a process one.
James Maude, field CTO at BeyondTrust, says:
Pathlock’s findings highlight a structural identity problem in manufacturing: attackers increasingly log in rather than break in, and dormant or over‑privileged accounts give them a frictionless path. During seasonal ramp‑ups, access is created quickly but rarely removed with the same urgency, leaving behind a shadow layer of identities that don’t trigger behavioral alerts. That expands the blast radius for everything from credential stuffing to insider misuse.
Security teams should focus on shrinking standing privilege, ideally taking a just-in-time approach for privilege and access especially for contractors and integrators. When you reduce the amount of privilege in the system, you reduce the impact of inevitable mistakes.
Among the report’s other findings 51 percent don’t use automated elevated access management; 14 percent have minimal or no governance over privileged access at all. Third-party consultants and internal IT admins — the users with the broadest permissions — are the hardest groups to manage. 61 percent skipped comprehensive segregation of duties (SoD) risk simulations before deploying new roles during cloud migrations.
Chris Radkowski, application access governance expert at Pathlock, writes on the company’s blog, “In manufacturing, where seasonal workforce expansion intersects with long-term migration projects and heavy reliance on third-party consultants, identity becomes the new perimeter. Without automated provisioning, automated elevated access management, and comprehensive SoD design and simulations, organizations are not just risking audit findings — they are creating vulnerabilities inside mission-critical systems.”
You can read more on the Pathlock blog.
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