Is your dealership protected from hackers?

Making a mistake with a potential car buyer is never good…it could cost your dealership a sell. But making a mistake and allowing a hacker to infiltrate your store’s security system could cost your store millions.

A CBT Conference Speaker and President of Helion Automotive Technologies, Erik Nachbahr has come up with seven mistakes employees make, including not verifying email addresses. When salespeople receive a request to transfer money, Nachbahr suggest checking the sender’s email address to make sure it matches the one on file.

Never click on an email attachment from an unknown source. Obviously, attachments contain malware. Never click on a website link within emails. Nachbahr says it’s called typo squatting. It involves sending links to bogus websites that steal login id and password information.

Another mistake dealers make, allowing employees to bring their own devices. Nachbahr says dealerships should have a policy that prevents their employees from copying customer records onto USB drives and other devices.

Getting calls from phone reps who they say they are. Employees often fall for this scam and proceed to give away information that allows the network to be hacked. If you receive such a call from a bogus person saying they’re with Microsoft, ask the rep for their number and them you’ll call them back once you check with your it staff.

Password violations and visiting personal websites while at work. Employees should create passwords with a combination of letters, numbers and symbols and change them every 90 days. And obviously, security policy should disallow employees from visiting social media sites, shopping sites or gaming sites.