Picture this: Jerry, a service manager, walks into his dealership on a sunny Tuesday morning. He grabs coffee, settles in, and starts his usual routine of catching up on unread emails. Jerry sees an email from Bob Butler, his dealership’s IT manager. He receives emails from Bob all the time, so he doesn’t think twice before clicking it.
The message sounds like Bob, and the request seems reasonable. The dealership is completing a “routine security update,” and Bob is asking Jerry to click a link to reset his password.
There’s only one problem — the email didn’t actually come from Bob.
A closer look at the sender’s email address shows that the request came from bob.butler@cedarridgeautomotve.com, instead of bob.butler@cedarridgeautomotive.com.
Did you spot the difference? The phishing email is missing the “i” in “automotive.”
The difference is subtle, and that’s exactly what cybercriminals are counting on. If the bad guys can get you to click on a malicious link
disguised as a routine communication or urgent request, your dealership’s data, and more importantly, your customers’ data, may soon be at the mercy of cybercriminals.
The truth is, this type of attack can happen to anyone. But your cybersecurity approach will greatly affect how a
phishing attempt impacts your dealership.
One Click Opens the Door
Let’s say Jerry ended up clicking the link to “reset his password.” Unknowingly to him, a phishing trap has been laid, and he fell right into it. His account is now compromised, and his dealership is dealing with a very different kind of Tuesday.
Jerry’s compromised account has given the attacker access to his communications, and it won’t stop there. The most dangerous part of a phishing attack goes beyond the individual user it initially targets. Once the cybercriminal got their foot in the door, they started moving through the dealership’s network, looking for valuable data to encrypt and backups to destroy. Unfortunately, they encrypted the dealership’s servers and caused a total shutdown of their DMS and network. With the DMS out of commission, Jerry and his team couldn’t service cars, write ROs, close deals, or execute any normal operations.
What started as a simple click quickly snowballed into a serious financial and reputational risk for his dealership.
Awareness Changes the Outcome
Instead of falling for the phishing trap, let’s say Jerry works at a dealership that prioritizes social engineering training and fosters a culture of cybersecurity awareness. This scenario would lead to a very different outcome — one that doesn’t spell disaster for his dealership.
Thanks to proper training, Jerry realizes something about the email doesn’t seem right. Rather than clicking the link, he pauses, then evaluates the sender and their request. Jerry remembers this general rule of thumb: Any email that contains the following information deserves a closer look:
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A request for sensitive, personal, or financial information.
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An uncharacteristic greeting and/or tone that differs from prior interactions.
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Multiple typos, poor grammar, or unusual sentence structure.
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A misspelled sender email address or domain name.
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An unexpected attachment or link.
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Urgent or threatening language (“Your account will be deactivated!”).
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The sender is someone you haven’t provided your information to.
Using this knowledge, Jerry remembers that his IT manager wouldn’t make this request — it would come from the internal database. Soon after, he spots the typo in the sender’s email address. He quickly reports the suspicious email to his IT team. That simple moment of awareness prevented a compromised account, financial loss, and potential reputational damage to the dealership.
Cybersecurity Is Everyone’s Responsibility
The best time to discover a phishing trap is before someone clicks it. And the best way to prevent clicks is to build a cybersecurity culture with
a trusted cybersecurity partner at the foundation. This environment helps ensure all employees understand their role in staying secure, making regular training and awareness programs crucial.
Maintaining this kind of culture and staying vigilant with every email may feel tedious, or even unnecessary, at times. But that vigilance could make all the difference between protecting your dealership and giving cybercriminals a way in.
