Recent Cyber-Attacks Highlight The Urgency Of Strong Cybersecurity For All Milwaukee Businesses

Imagine if the software your Milwaukee business relies on to close deals and pay employees suddenly went down, with no clear timeline for a fix. Could you keep your operations running smoothly? How much revenue would you lose?

This exact scenario played out in June for over 15,000 car dealerships across the US and Canada when cyber-attacks hit CDK Global, a major industry software provider. The attacks crippled sales, financing, and payroll systems, forcing many dealerships to halt operations or revert to manual processes.

This incident serves as a crucial reminder for Milwaukee business owners about the importance of strong cybersecurity measures. Don’t wait for a crisis to protect your business—take action now to safeguard your operations and data.

What Happened?

The initial attack occurred on the evening of Tuesday, June 18. Once it was detected, CDK Global immediately took the correct action, bringing the entire system offline to investigate the issue. The system was up and running again the following day until a second incident occurred, which resulted in the company bringing the system back offline. It’s thought the system was brought back online prematurely, before all compromised areas were discovered, resulting in a second attack. Cybersecurity experts are saying it could be weeks before the system is back to being fully operational.

While some businesses were able to revert to manual processes, this incident highlights the vulnerabilities that come with relying on digital systems. In our ever-advancing digital world, where most transactions are a couple of clicks away, significant issues arise when systems go offline. Critical parts of the business process, such as completing transactions, managing payroll and interacting with financial institutions, can come to a standstill. This means that until the systems are back online, many business operations cannot be fully completed, leading to delays and potential financial losses. Business owners know that there is no sale until the check clears the bank!

So, What’s Next?

CDK Global didn’t disclose the exact cause of the attack. Whether that was intentional or they are still unsure remains to be seen. Their security team will need to meticulously comb over every area of the business to determine exactly what was compromised. It’s often difficult for large companies to get the details about cyber-attacks 100% correct after the first review because they may not be able to determine the extent of an attack’s network penetration if there are multiple points of vulnerability.

Will your business be prepared to continue operations if a cyber-attack strikes again?

This incident should serve as a wake-up call for all business leaders in Milwaukee. If you don’t have a robust business recovery and continuity plan in place, you’re putting your business at risk. And if you do, you need to ensure it is high-quality, tested often, and capable of handling a large-scale attack where multiple operational systems are disabled. If the answer is no, it’s time to take action.

Investing in?cyber security and reliable?computer support in Milwaukee?is crucial to safeguard your business operations and data. Don’t wait for a crisis to protect your business—act now to ensure your systems are secure and resilient.

To help you protect your Milwaukee business, we will perform a FREE Security Risk Assessment that will achieve two important things:

1. We’ll analyze your network for vulnerabilities. This will show you if and where an attack can occur, and we’ll offer solutions to patch it so you’re not actively setting yourself up to be the next cyber-attack victim.
2. We’ll help you determine what continuity or recovery plan makes sense for your organization. Cybersecurity is an essential and necessary element of doing business, but even the most robust security solutions are not 100% foolproof. This means you must have a plan to bounce back and continue doing business if something should happen to your network or to a third-party piece of software you rely on, like CDK.

To get started, call our office at 414-455-6400 or click here to book your FREE Security Risk Assessment now.