COVID-19 isn’t the only pandemic we need to contend with today. We also face a pandemic of cybercrime. Consider that today a ransomware attack takes place every 11 seconds and the vast majority of these attacks target small to mid-sized business – the size of most auto dealers. This is drastically different than just a few years ago. The incidence of cybercrime is soaring and since COVID-19, it has accelerated at an even quicker pace.
To be crystal clear – because of the vast amount of consumer financial data that dealers have on hand and their propensity to perform large electronic financial transactions – auto and truck dealers are prime targets for the cybercriminal. Add to this the fact that only 30% of dealers employ a network engineer with a computer security certification or training and you can see that dealers are very vulnerable.
With COVID-19, dealers have more to be concerned about than just cybercrime. There’s also that little thing called the economy. Many dealers are concerned about current economic conditions – leading them to trim costs wherever possible – while attempting to maintain their current level of productivity.
A great approach to bolster your cybersecurity defenses while also enhancing employee productivity is to implement IT best practices. There are 10 essential practices that must be implemented to provide your dealership with the appropriate level of visibility, simplicity, and control that you need to keep your systems, data, and finances secure while also improving the speed, performance and accessibility of the IT environment that your employees rely on to do their jobs.
Recently, Erik Nachbahr, Helion’s Founder & President, performed a webinar called Dealer IT Best Practices; Protecting Against Cybercrime and Boosting Productivity that describes the IT best practices that dealers should have in place as well as a practical step by step process for how dealers can implement these practices. If you want to learn how your dealership can boost productivity while also mitigating the risk of a cybersecurity breach then you should watch this recorded webinar. Simply click here to see the webinar.
