Your reaction to the word cybersecurity may vary depending on your role and experience with technology. Some dealers may feel comfortable and maybe even confident. But for many dealers, there’s a sense of unease. Since this is an important topic, hearing about a new attack almost every week makes it easy to be paralyzed by fear:

As it turns out, worrying is the best reaction in this situation.

Cybersecurity is not a one-size-fits-all solution you can buy off the shelf. It’s a mindset that focuses on ever-evolving threats. Cyberattacks don’t wait and neither can you. With cybersecurity, a healthy dose of cautious pessimism is always required.

The threat landscape

At CDK Global, we frequently talk to dealers. When it comes to cybersecurity, we hear how dealers don’t want to invest in securing their dealership from attacks because it doesn’t help them sell more vehicles.

But there are plenty of dealers who are aware and worried about threats to their dealership, and in a recent survey they told us about the cyberthreats they face:

The top responses aren’t surprising. You can barely go a week without hearing about another high-profile company being hit with ransomware or another type of attack.

However, it’s concerning to see a little over a quarter of dealers recognizing the issue with Employee Awareness.

Interested in combating ransomware? CDK Security Awareness Training helps you train your employees to spot suspicious emails and attacks before they happen.

It’s easy to think that only technology can save you from a sophisticated cyberattack. These attacks utilize code and technology, so you need to fight them with additional software and hardware.

Don't forget about your people

The computers, hardware and software in your dealership is used or set up by a person. If your employees don’t know how to spot phishing emails or links that will invite ransomware attacks into your dealership, then they may be the weakest link in your cybersecurity defenses. One of these attacks could knock you out of business for an average of 16 days.*

Besides training, one simple way to minimize the threat of an attack is to minimize the amount of spam emails your dealership receives. The math is simple: if you reduce the number of spam emails by 90%, then the number of potential attacks can reduce by 90% as well.

See how CDK Global can help you keep spam under control with CDK Mail Protect.

Next Steps

If you’re wondering where to start, taking the first step is the most important. Our cybersecurity experts know that every dealer is different and has unique needs. We can sit down with you and your team to assess your current situation and offer direction for where to invest.

CDK helps you get a clear view of your network and security environment at any stage of your journey and gives you a roadmap to the best path forward. Contact your Sales Rep to take advantage of this free, no-obligation offer.