Why are North American car dealerships being hacked?

With the rapid development of information technology, the automotive industry is gradually moving towards intelligence and networking. The automotive dealer industry, while enjoying the convenience brought by technology, is also facing increasingly serious network security issues. In recent years, car dealerships in North America have frequently become new targets of hacker attacks, sparking widespread attention and discussion. These attacks not only affect the daily operations of car dealerships, but also threaten consumer information security and privacy.

On June 23rd local time, according to Bloomberg, recently on June Day in the United States, CDK Global, the most commonly used automotive dealer management software supplier in the United States and Canada, was hit by a cyber attack. The report states that the mastermind behind this cyber attack is demanding a huge ransom of tens of millions of dollars. This attack has resulted in over 15000 dealers being unable to sell in the past few days.

In addition, according to insiders, since June 20th, car dealerships in the United States and Canada using CDK Global software have been facing service interruptions, resulting in dealers being unable to use the Dealer Management System (DMS) for normal operations, such as selling cars, repairing vehicles, and delivering vehicles. However, some dealer employees complain online that they have nothing to do or are forced back to the era of paper and pens, and some dealers directly ask employees to go home and rest. These practices undoubtedly leave an opportunity for hackers to attack.

Why are North American car dealerships being attacked by hackers? Firstly, car dealerships need to process a large amount of customer data in their daily operations, including personal information, vehicle information, transaction records, etc. These data have extremely high value for hackers, making them the main targets of hacker attacks. Once data is stolen or leaked, it will cause huge losses to dealers and customers. Secondly, hacker groups may carry out targeted attacks against the North American automotive market, aiming to steal customer information, disrupt business operations, or engage in extortion. In addition, some employees may not strictly comply with information security regulations in their daily work, resulting in known security vulnerabilities and hidden dangers in the system. These vulnerabilities provide hackers with an opportunity to easily attack and penetrate the network systems of distributors.

In response to this incident, North American car dealerships should increase investment in information system security, regularly conduct security vulnerability scans and repairs, and ensure that the system is protected from hacker attacks. We should also strengthen employee information security training, increase employees' awareness and importance of information security, and avoid security vulnerabilities caused by human factors. In addition, in order to avoid the occurrence of this incident, a comprehensive emergency plan should also be developed to respond to possible cyber attack incidents. In the event of an attack, it can respond promptly and quickly restore business operations.

Therefore, the cyber attack on North American car dealerships once again reminds us that information security has become an important cornerstone of enterprise development. Automobile dealers should attach great importance to information security work, strengthen system security protection, improve employee security awareness, establish emergency plans and other measures to ensure enterprise information security and stable business development. At the same time, the government and relevant departments should also strengthen supervision and crackdown efforts to jointly maintain cyberspace security.