By: John Hardacre, Product Manager

Malware causes service disruption as it rapidly infects an entire network through one workstation. It can affect the performance of many systems, including your dealership’s CRM. So what exactly is Malware? It is defined as software that is intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems.

When your computer or dealership’s operational system starts slowing down or behaving in an unusual way, it can be easy to assume that there is a virus. However, it is more likely that your dealership has some sort of Malware. Some are malicious, while others are just annoying. The worst culprits are hijackers—malware programs that take over your browser, or worse yet, your computer. At best, Malware is simply an annoyance. At worst, it can affect the daily operational function of a dealership.

Below are some tips to keep your hardware safe and free of Malware:

• We recommend having anti-virus protection on every server and workstation in your dealership.  Additionally, it is important to keep it updated and run regularly scheduled scans.
• Warn end users about phishing attacks. Remind them to not open email attachments from unknown sources. Even if the email is from a known source, employees should treat it as suspicious if the email content seems strange. These types of emails should be reported to your local IT resource and then deleted from the user’s email.
• Keep your operating system current. Regardless of whether your dealership is running Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or any other OS, make sure to keep it up to date. OS developers are constantly issuing security patches that fix and plug security leaks. These patches will help to keep your system secure.
• Make sure everyone in your dealership knows to “think before they click.” Avoid websites that provide pirated material. Do not open an email attachment from a person or company you do not know. Do not click on a link in an unsolicited email. Always hover over a link before you click to see where the link is really taking you.   
• It’s imperative to have dealership protocol in place around a backup process for dealership files. Ideally, you should have all files and data backing up to either a file server or the cloud, or both.

Malware is a consistent and prevalent problem in today’s dealership environment, but taking a pragmatic, preventative approach to derailing these pesky programs goes a long way in managing the problem.