12:26 pm, March 7, 2022
Dealers are facing a heightened risk of cyberattacks.
That’s according to iVendi, which says various factors including the Ukraine situation are causing more malicious activity online.
The connected motor retail tech firm highlighted the news that a major European dealer group was recently targeted by the Hive ransomware group.
Simon Hunt, head of information security and compliance at iVendi, said: ‘It is widely acknowledged that we are currently seeing a substantially increased threat level.
‘Only a few weeks ago, a general warning was issued by official cyber security bodies in the US, UK and Australia about high levels of activity.
‘While details of the major European dealer group incident are limited, it illustrates how motor retailers – perhaps especially larger businesses – are potentially vulnerable to malicious attacks that could seriously compromise their ability to operate in the short term and damage their reputation in the longer term.
‘What we can also say with some certainty from our wide experience of the dealer sector in the UK and across Europe is that security standards vary widely.’
It has released a 10-point document to prompt action by dealerships.
The iVendi 10-Point Security Checklist
- Check your patching is up to date
- Check access controls and password policy
- Check your defences
- Check logging and monitoring
- Check your back-up and recovery strategy
- Check your incident response plan
- Check your internet connections
- Check you phishing response capability
- Check third-party access
- Check sources of threat intelligence
Hunt emphasised that the checklist didn’t aim to replace a full security consultation.
