Data Security

Dealership Identity Theft

The following dealers probably thought it would never happen to them:

Miami Gardens, Florida - A woman walked in off the street pretending to look at cars in the showroom. While another woman was engaged in conversation with sales personnel, the suspect made her way to a back office and grabbed a box containing the sensitive financial data of dozens of customers who'd recently purchased cars from the dealer.

Dover New Hampshire - Personal information from thousands of people in New Hampshire and Massachusetts has been compromised after a data backup tape was stolen. The pilfered data include names, addresses, Social Security numbers and driver's license information.

 
Gilbert, Arizona - A former employee of a Gilbert car dealership is accused of stealing the identities of 121 customers, according to court records. Scottsdale, AZ police said the employee may be part of a large identity-theft ring that goes beyond the dealership and is still under investigation.

Now the bad news:

·         FTC Fines for Identity Theft = $16,000/document or occurrence

·         State Fines = Up to $500,000

·         Recent jury awards ranging from $350,000 to $1.1M for “individual victims”

·         Florida 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that individuals whose identity has been breached qualify for “monetary damages” even if they did not suffer financial harm. (Kehoe vs. Fidelity Federal Bank & Trust

·         As is recognized by regulatory guidance in California, echoing the courts, a person's own identity is the most valuable and intimate possession that can possibly be owned (Lockyer, 2000).

What does this mean?

·         Most dealers are vulnerable to customer identity theft

·         There are more ways of stealing customer’s information than you can imagine

·         If Warren Buffett’s identity information is stolen from your business in California, you may be liable for more than his next most valuable possession ($52 billion dollars) plus fines and penalties.

More bad news:

The FTC has started doing test audits of customer data security in dealerships in Florida and Texas.

Undercover federal agents are attempting to purchase customer information from dealership employees.
 

The good news:

Dealer SafeGuard Solutions
identity theft security for dealerships

·         Customer non-public information secured in an electronic “identity safe”

·         Access ONLY to authorized employees

·         Off Site “Archived” electronic documents

·         No ability to reproduce data without proper authorization

·         Instant audit/retrieval availability

·         Eliminates high risk documents from sales areas

·         Centralized control/visibility across enterprise

·         Designed by security experts to the NSA and military

·         Includes data theft insurance policy