In the future, industrial robots may create jobs, boost productivity and spur higher wages. But one thing seems more certain for now: They’re vulnerable to hackers.

Factories, hospitals and other big robot users often lack sufficient levels of defense against a digital attack, according to cybersecurity experts, robot manufacturers and engineering researchers. The risk levels are rising as more robots morph from being offline and isolated to being internet-connected machines, often working alongside humans.

“There’s no concept of antivirus for your robot. It just doesn’t really exist yet,” says Yossi Naar, a co-founder of Cybereason Inc., a Boston-based company that provides cybersecurity services for connected devices. “So protection tends to be very lax to nonexistent.”

Robot makers and buyers have become increasingly aware of their cyber risk. Groups like the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization, a federation of national standards bodies, are studying the cyber risk for robots.

“Our world of robotics has been waking up to the notion of cybersecurity,” says Roberta Nelson Shea, global technical compliance officer at Denmark-based Universal Robots, which makes industrial robots. “The greater the connectivity, the greater the risk.”