Estimated downtime cost individual firms up to US$2M; traditional “air gapping” no longer sufficient

SINGAPORE, Feb. 24, 2025  /PRNewswire/ — A global study by Omdia has found that 80% of manufacturing firms experienced a significant increase in overall security incidents or breaches last year, but only 45% are adequately prepared in their cyber security.  

Omdia surveyed over 500 technology executives worldwide on the convergence of Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) – or physical systems – in their core operations, and how they managed cyber security challenges. The report for the study was produced in partnership with Telstra International, the global arm of leading telecommunications and technology company Telstra.

The heightened risk of cyber attacks comes as manufacturers move to leverage IT such as cloud, AI, and Internet of Things (IoT) as part of their digital transformation – a process defined as Industry 4.0. While the convergence of IT with traditional OT can increase scale, resilience and efficiency in operations, it also increases the attack surface for cyber threats. Critical industries are increasingly lucrative targets for cyber exploitation including ransomware.

Manufacturers affected by a cyber attack reported a resilience or availability issue that cost individual firms between US$200,000 and US$2 million, taking the biggest hit when incidents affected enterprise and corporate systems or production control.

Geraldine Kor, Telstra International’s Head of Global Enterprise Business, said: “Greater connectivity between IT and OT is necessary to harness advanced technology for manufacturing innovation, but it increases the risks of a breach. However, very few firms are mature in protecting and defending against such cyber risks.”

“Our study also uncovered a fragmented approach to security responsibility, which can leave manufacturing businesses without a clear direction. This responsibility must be clear and integrated so that one group or person will have the authority to act on security challenges for mission-critical systems. It is equally important to have the right people and security-focused culture as their absence will hinder security posture readiness, compounding technical challenges.”

Ganesh Narayanan, Telstra International’s Global Head of Cyber Security, noted that the manufacturing and other industrial sectors historically relied on air gapping for security, where OT systems are typically segregated from corporate IT systems to protect against external threats.

However, this approach is no longer sustainable with increasing IT-OT convergence, which expands the threat surface significantly.

He said: “IT and OT integration create enormous value for organisations across industries, although organisations must address risks to unlock its potential. Organisations should prioritise IT/OT and IoT security across six core areas: Collaboration and planning, defining a strategy, bolstering technical expertise, assign responsibility and accountability, leveraging the right tools, and expedite readiness with standards.”

Adam Etherington, Senior Principal Analyst at Omdia, said: “Our study illuminates critical attack vectors and lessons learned, and provides timely advice for any executive responsible for IT and OT.”

“More pervasive connectivity between IT and OT is essential across greenfield and brownfield manufacturing system design and enhancements. Step change improvements to innovation, availability, safety and security require firms to harness cloud, IoT, AI and private networks, with IT/OT convergence bringing these technologies to life.”

“However, most firms have been hit with expensive outages and security incidents while traditional security controls, policies and culture struggle to keep pace. Given the magnitude of downtime costs from any breach or network incident that impacted operations, it’s important to better understand the causes for proactive remediation.”

The Omdia report can be downloaded at the following link: https://www.telstrainternational.com/en/news-research/research/secure-manufacturing-the-challenges-of-IT-OT-convergence

Please see “Notes to Editor” below for additional details of the study 

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About Telstra International

Telstra is a leading telecommunications and technology company with a proudly Australian heritage and a longstanding, growing international business. Telstra International empowers enterprise, government, carrier, and OTT customers with innovative technology solutions. These services are underpinned by our wholly owned subsea cable network, which is the largest in Asia Pacific and includes more than 30 cable systems spanning over 400,000 km, with access to multiple cable landing stations and more than 2,000 points of presence around the world. For more information, please visit telstrainternational.com  

Notes to Editor

Key findings

1. Industry 4.0 is the biggest factor driving IT-OT convergence

86% of respondents said connecting IT with OT was important or very important to achieve business outcomes, acknowledging the vital, complementary roles they play. Industry 4.0 was the top factor driving IT-OT convergence in the past two years, with 47% of respondents citing it alongside cyber security, and increasing resiliency and availability.

2. Increase in overall OT security incident with significant financial loss as impact

Four in five, or 80% of respondents, indicated they saw a “significant increase” in overall security incidents or breaches in the past 12 months, with manufacturing firms of different sizes impacted. Respondents were not asked to quantify the level of this increase. 62% of manufacturing firms experienced a resilience or availability issue, typically costing US$200,000 to US$2 million. This cost impact was common across regions.

3. Most attacks started in IT, not OT

The study found Cyber-to-Physical security attacks, referring to IT attacks that impacted OT or operations, accounted for 75% of such incidents. Most attacks took place at the higher level of the IT/OT stack, namely the more advanced layers of the technology systems that are used to process or analyse data. Advanced persistent threats (APT), malware, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) were reported as the most prevalent attacks on OT systems.

4. Only a small percentage of manufacturing firms are ‘advanced’ in securing IT/OT

Omdia used the NIST and ISA95 frameworks to assess the current maturity of organisations in securing IT/OT convergence. Only 45% of all manufacturers were very prepared for IT/OT converged security across important areas that include securing networking, security awareness, supply chain risks, and cultural issues. 42% were ‘somewhat’ prepared and 13% were not at all prepared, with no formal process in place.

5. Responsibility for OT security increasingly coming under IT’s remit

While historically engineering-led production managers were directly responsible for production and operations in manufacturing, this model is changing as IT-OT convergence gathers momentum. The study shows OT security responsibility is increasingly falling into the remit of Chief Information Security Officers (CISO), and other executives from an IT security background. One in five respondents said their CISO was responsible for understanding and implementing IT/OT converged security in their organisation.

6. More manufacturing companies are outsourcing their IT/OT security

Respondents highlighted challenges in finding skilled and experienced staff who understand both IT and OT from a security perspective, especially in their industry context. As a result, most firms will engage a third party under an outsourcing agreement or with in-house teams to bolster IT/OT-specific security services. North American firms (51%) are most likely to outsource their IT/OT security in the next 18 months, followed by those in Asia Pacific (43%), Europe (37%) and Latin America (37%).

About the Survey

The Telstra International Global Manufacturing Security Services Market Study 2024 was carried out by Omdia in September 2024.

Respondents

• 513 technology executives responsible for IT or OT security were surveyed
• 51% were Technology or Security Executives e.g. CIO
• 49% were Line of Business Directors

Sectors

• Equipment and Other Discrete Manufacturing
• Automotive and Vehicle Manufacturing
• Industrial Process Manufacturing
• Construction
• Mineral and Metal Mining
• Agriculture
• Food and Other Consumer
• Products Manufacturing

Organisation size

• 45% with 500-999 employees
• 55% with 1000+ employees

Regions

• North America
• Latin America
• Europe
• APAC

HEYTEA taps Adyen for its unified commerce technology and global acquiring capabilities to process payments in store and online

SHENZHEN, China, Feb. 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Adyen, the global payments platform of choice for many of the world’s leading companies, today announced its partnership with HEYTEA, the originator of China’s “new-style tea” and creator of the iconic cheese tea (cheese cloud foam).

With a footprint of over 4,300 outlets in 300 cities worldwide, the partnership is set to be a recipe for success with HEYTEA’s ambitious global expansion, bringing its creative brews to customers across the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Australia.

With its sights set on expanding into new markets, HEYTEA has chosen Adyen as its payment technology provider, utilizing Adyen’s unified commerce platform to enable the global tea chain to launch seamlessly into new overseas markets.

The integration with Adyen will also see HEYTEA unlock the benefit of its extensive global acquiring network, allowing faster, more reliable transactions in the preferred local payment methods — including powering WeChat Pay directly via HEYTEA’s app, promising a localized and more customer-friendly experience.

“Adyen’s technology allows us to seamlessly deliver on our mission to deliver a modern tea experience to customers globally,” says HEYTEA official spokesperson. “Adyen’s fast processing and support of a wide range of local payment methods, allow us to focus on delighting customers without worrying about payment complexities.”

“Adyen is proud to partner with HEYTEA as it brings its iconic ‘new-style tea’ to customers around the globe. Expanding into new markets presents both opportunities and challenges, and we’re proud that HEYTEA has trusted Adyen to power its global growth.” says Warren Hayashi, President of Asia-Pacific, Adyen.

About Adyen

Adyen (AMS: ADYEN) is the financial technology platform of choice for leading companies. By providing end-to-end payments capabilities, data-driven insights, and financial products in a single global solution, Adyen helps businesses achieve their ambitions faster. With offices around the world, Adyen works with the likes of Meta, Uber, H&M, eBay, and Microsoft. The cooperation with HEYTEA as described in this merchant update underlines Adyen’s continuous growth with current and new merchants over the years. For more information, visit adyen.com.

About HEYTEA

HEYTEA is the originator of new-style tea. Founded in 2012 in Jiangbianli, Guangdong, China, HEYTEA began with humble beginnings, blending tradition with eccentric inspiration to breathe new life into tea. Committed to using only REAL ingredients with NO colorants, HEYTEA revolutionized the tea industry by introducing the world’s first-ever Cheese Tea—a unique blend of fresh tea topped with a rich, velvety cheese cloud foam.

In 2018, HEYTEA opened its first international store in Singapore, bringing new-style tea to a larger global audience. Today, with more than 4,300 stores worldwide, HEYTEA continues to bring simple joy and a touch of Zen to more people through a good cup of tea.

SAN FRANCISCO and SUZHOU, China, Feb. 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Innovent Biologics, Inc. (“Innovent”) (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology and other major diseases, announces that the New Drug Application (NDA) for ipilimumab injection (anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody; R&D Code: IBI310) has been accepted by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and granted Priority Review designation[1] in combination with sintilimab as neoadjuvant treatment for resectable microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) colon cancer.

This is China’s first NDA for a domestic CTLA-4 inhibitor and another milestone strengthening sintilimab’s leadership position in cancer immunotherapy. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy targeting PD-1 and CTLA-4 has transformed oncology treatment, ipilimumab with sintilimab as a neoadjuvant treatment could increase R0 resection rate, achieve pathological complete response, and relieve the majority of patients from adjuvant chemotherapy burdens. This novel treatment is also expected to reduce recurrence rate and improve long-term prognosis, anticipated to benefit MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer patients upon NDA approval.

The NDA acceptance and Priority Review designation are based on results from a randomized, controlled, multicenter, pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial (NeoShot, NCT05890742) which evaluated the safety and efficacy of ipilimumab  combined with sintilimab as neoadjuvant therapy and as compared with direct radical surgery for MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer. The primary endpoints are pathologic complete response (pCR) rate and event-free survival (EFS). Interim analysis by the Independent Data Monitoring Committee (IDMC) showed that the NeoShot trial has met its primary endpoint. Detailed results will be presented at future academic conferences or published in academic journals.

Previously, the results of a randomized controlled Phase 1b trial evaluating ipilimumab in combination with sintilimab as neoadjuvant treatment for MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer were presented orally at the 2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meetingⁱ. Based on promising Phase 1b results, the CDE has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) for ipilimumab.

• As of February 4, 2024, 101 patients were enrolled and randomized to receive ipilimumab plus sintilimab (n=52) or sintilimab alone (n=49).
• In the per-protocol population, the pCR rate in the ipilimumab-plus-sintilimab arm was significantly higher than in the sintilimab-alone arm（80.0% vs 47.7%, p=0.0007）.
• All patients in both treatment arms had R0 resection. With median follow-up of 5.65 months, no patient had disease recurrence.
• At postoperative pathological evaluation, 3.9% of patients with ipilimumab plus sintilimab and 15.9% of patients with sintilimab alone were stage N+. The majority of patients could be relieved from adjuvant treatment according to clinical guidelines.
• Ipilimumab -plus-sintilimab increased neither safety risk compared to sintilimab alone nor risk for subsequent surgery delay or cancellation.

The Principal Investigator of the NeoShot study, Prof. Ruihua Xu from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, stated: “At present, R0 resection for certain locally advanced colon cancer patients remains a significant challenge, along with risks of extensive trauma and poor prognosis. The results of the FOxTROT study suggested that neoadjuvant chemotherapy is not effective in MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer, and the pCR rate is only around 5%ⁱⁱ. The NeoShot trial is the first randomized, controlled, Phase 3 clinical trial to show promising efficacy of dual checkpoint inhibition as neoadjuvant therapy in MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer. Results from the phase 1b study suggest that ipilimumab with sintilimab as short-term neoadjuvant treatment could increase R0 resection rate, achieve pathological complete response, and relieve patients from adjuvant chemotherapy burdens. This novel treatment is also expected to lower recurrence rate and improve long-term prognosis ⁱ.As this dual immunotherapy regimen has the potential to change clinical practice, we look forward to the NDA approval of this novel drug to benefit more MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer patients soon. “

Dr. Hui Zhou, Senior Vice President of Innovent, stated: “There is a huge unmet clinical need for neoadjuvant therapy of resectable MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer in China. Interim analysis showed that the NeoShot trial has met its primary endpoint. With Innovent’s highly efficient and high-quality clinical development, ipilimumab has become China’s first domestic CTLA-4 inhibitor to submit an NDA. We will actively cooperate with regulatory authorities to accelerate approval, and provide a new treatment option for patients with resectable MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer in China.”

About Ipilimumab

Ipilimumab (R&D code: IBI310) is a fully human monoclonal antibody injection independently developed by Innovent. Ipilimumab can specifically bind cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4), thereby blocking CTLA-4 mediated T cell inhibition, promoting T cell activation and proliferation, improving tumor immune response, and achieving anti-tumor effects. ⁱⁱⁱ

The NDA for ipilimumab in combination with sintilimab as neoadjuvant treatment for resectable microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) colon cancer is under the NMPA review and has been granted Priority Review designation.

About Sintilimab

Sintilimab, marketed as TYVYT^® (sintilimab injection) in China, is a PD-1 immunoglobulin G4 monoclonal antibody co-developed by Innovent and Eli Lilly and Company. Sintilimab is a type of immunoglobulin G4 monoclonal antibody, which binds to PD-1 molecules on the surface of T-cells, blocks the PD-1 / PD-Ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway, and reactivates T-cells to kill cancer cells.^iv

In China, sintilimab has been approved and included in the updated NRDL for seven indications. The updated NRDL reimbursement scope for TYVYT^® (sintilimab injection) includes:

• For the treatment of relapsed or refractory classic Hodgkin’s lymphoma after two lines or later of systemic chemotherapy;
• For the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer lacking EGFR or ALK driver gene mutations;
• For the treatment of patients with EGFR-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer who progressed after EGFR-TKI therapy;
• For the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced or metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer;
• For the first-line treatment of unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma with no prior systematic treatment;
• For the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma;
• For the first-line treatment of unresectable locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.

Furthermore, sintilimab’s eighth indication, in combination with fruquintinib for the treatment of patients with advanced endometrial cancer with pMMR tumors that have failed prior systemic therapy and are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation, was conditional approved by the NMPA in December 2024. And the NDA for sintilimab in combination with ipilimumab as neoadjuvant treatment for resectable MSI-H/dMMR colon cancer is under the NMPA review and has been granted Priority Review designation.

In addition, two clinical studies of sintilimab have met their primary endpoints:

• Phase 2 study of sintilimab monotherapy as second-line treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma;
• Phase 3 study of sintilimab monotherapy as second-line treatment for squamous non-small cell lung cancer with disease progression following platinum-based chemotherapy.

About Innovent

Innovent is a leading biopharmaceutical company founded in 2011 with the mission to empower patients worldwide with affordable, high-quality biopharmaceuticals. The company discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes innovative medicines that target some of the most intractable diseases. Its pioneering therapies treat cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic, autoimmune and eye diseases. Innovent has launched 14 products in the market. It has 4 new drug applications under regulatory review, 2 assets in Phase III or pivotal clinical trials and 17 more molecules in early clinical stage. Innovent partners with over 30 global healthcare companies, including Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Incyte, Adimab, LG Chem and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Guided by the motto, “Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action,” Innovent maintains the highest standard of industry practices and works collaboratively to advance the biopharmaceutical industry so that first-rate pharmaceutical drugs can become widely accessible. For more information, visit www.innoventbio.com, or follow Innovent on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Statement:

（1）Innovent does not recommend the use of any unapproved drug (s)/indication (s).

（2）Ramucirumab (Cyramza) and Selpercatinib (Retsevmo) and Pirtobrutinib (Jaypirca) were developed by Eli Lilly and Company.

Disclaimer: Innovent does not recommend any off-label usage.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements that are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. The words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend” and similar expressions, as they relate to Innovent, are intended to identify certain of such forward-looking statements. Innovent does not intend to update these forward-looking statements regularly.

These forward-looking statements are based on the existing beliefs, assumptions, expectations, estimates, projections and understandings of the management of Innovent with respect to future events at the time these statements are made. These statements are not a guarantee of future developments and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond Innovent’s control and are difficult to predict. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of future changes or developments in our business, Innovent’s competitive environment and political, economic, legal and social conditions.

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