In the past few months the number of companies being hacked has continued to rise; many dealerships have been victims.

The most common practice works as follows: a hacker takes advantage of a weakness in the security of the dealer’s server, takes control of its database, and keeps it “hostage” until the dealer pays a ransom (usually several thousands of dollars).

This situation demands for a full-scale reevaluation of the dealership’s security measures. This article proposes 5 best practices for your IT staff to implement on your business’ servers so as to boost information security.

How Do I Improve Data Security?

Backup Policy

In order to guarantee the safety of your dealership’s database we recommend that you perform a backup at least once a day, to an external hard drive and, if possible, to the cloud. This preventive measure will protect you in the event of a hacker, as well as in cases of physical issues with your server. In addition, we advise you to carry out monthly backup restoration trials so as to confirm that your backups are being performed correctly.

Firewall

You can monitor access points and network connection through a firewall. Close all the ports you are not using and leave open only the ones that are used regularly. This will reduce the number of entry points that are vulnerable to threats.

VPN

Virtual private networks are one way to guarantee a safe connection with computers that are located outside of your installations. For example, dealership stores can connect through a VPN in a safe, controlled way.

Corporate Antivirus

Unlike standard antivirus tools, corporate versions allow you to monitor and control all computers used in the dealership. In addition, you can ensure that all devices are updated with the latest version of the antivirus, thus preventing safety breaches.

Vulnerability Trials

It is advisable that your technicians perform monthly vulnerability tests in order to detect possible breaches and weak points through which malicious connections, hackers or malware can attack your data.

This set of better practices will help safeguard the information on your dealership’s servers, and in case of any problem you will have a data backup so as to continue working in just a few hours.