--- title: "Automotive News: Dealerships “Prime Targets” for Cyber Attacks" description: Helion’s Erik Nachbahr explains that dealerships are “low-hanging fruit” for cyber criminals. Cybercrime targeting auto retailers is on the rise, according image: https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hubfs/Automotive-News-White-1.png --- [Skip to content](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/blog/2019/12/27/automotive-news-dealerships-prime-targets-for-cyber-attacks#main-content) [![helion-logo](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Assets%20S2/Images/email/helion-logo.png?width=320&height=82&name=helion-logo.png)Homepage](https://heliontechnologies.com/) - [RESOURCES](https://heliontechnologies.com/resources/) - [SERVICES](https://heliontechnologies.com/services/) - [SUPPORT](https://heliontechnologies.com/helion-technical-support-request/) - [CONTACT](https://heliontechnologies.com/contact/) [Get an IT Assessment](https://heliontechnologies.com/it-assessment/) - [RESOURCES](https://heliontechnologies.com/resources/) - [SERVICES](https://heliontechnologies.com/services/) - [SUPPORT](https://heliontechnologies.com/helion-technical-support-request/) - [CONTACT](https://heliontechnologies.com/contact/) [Get an IT Assessment](https://heliontechnologies.com/it-assessment/) ![](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Automotive-News-White-1.png?width=418&height=350&name=Automotive-News-White-1.png) Press Release # Automotive News: Dealerships “Prime Targets” for Cyber Attacks ![Erik Nachbahr](https://7528315.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/7528315/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mV0_d-cms-elevate-theme_hubspot/elevate/images/avatar-placeholder.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=avatar-placeholder.jpg) Erik Nachbahr July 31, 2026 ## Helion’s Erik Nachbahr explains that dealerships are “low-hanging fruit” for cyber criminals. Cybercrime targeting auto retailers is on the rise, according to a December 9th [article](https://www.autonews.com/finance-insurance/retailers-prime-targets-data-theft) by Melissa Burden for *Automotive News.* Cyber criminals target dealerships because they’re guaranteed to hold a cache of private consumer information, like the social security numbers and banking information that are collected for finance applications. Experts warn that the finance and insurance office is a particularly vulnerable space for dealerships, with employee email accounts acting as a common entry point for cyber criminals. *Automotive News* reached out to Helion President & Founder Erik Nachbahr, who weighed in on the surge of cyber attacks dealerships have experienced in 2019.  Dispelling a common myth that data breaches occur only as a result of hacking, Nachbahr explained, “It requires no hacking, really. You just stand up a fake website. So then dealership employees will go in, they will enter the credentials. Then the cyber criminals will actually log in to their email boxes and set up a bunch of rules to forward all of their email.” This, Nachbahr says, gives cyber criminals easy access to consumer credit card and bank account numbers. [Read the full article on Automotive News](https://www.autonews.com/finance-insurance/retailers-prime-targets-data-theft).   ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fmarketing.heliontechnologies.com%2Fblog%2F2019%2F12%2F27%2Fautomotive-news-dealerships-prime-targets-for-cyber-attacks](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fmarketing.heliontechnologies.com%2Fblog%2F2019%2F12%2F27%2Fautomotive-news-dealerships-prime-targets-for-cyber-attacks) ## Keep reading ### [![](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/The-Top-10-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2026.jpg?width=733&height=400&name=The-Top-10-cybersecurity-predictions-for-2026.jpg) cybersecurity audit Blog Are You Confident In Your Dealership Cybersecurity for 2026?](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/blog/2026/01/06/dealership-cybersecurity-2026) ### [![](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hs-fs/hubfs/dealership-cyber.jpg?width=2560&height=1440&name=dealership-cyber.jpg) cyber risk cyber defense cybersecurity Auto Dealers are at Greater Risk for Cyber Attacks in 2020, Helion Warns](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/blog/2020/01/27/auto-dealers-are-at-greater-risk-for-cyber-attacks-in-2020-helion-warns) - [RESOURCES](https://heliontechnologies.com/resources/) - [SERVICES](https://heliontechnologies.com/services/) - [SUPPORT](https://heliontechnologies.com/helion-technical-support-request/) - [CONTACT](https://heliontechnologies.com/contact/) [![Helion_White_Logo](https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Helion_White_Logo.png?width=200&height=51&name=Helion_White_Logo.png "Helion_White_Logo")](https://heliontechnologies.com/) ###### Copyright © 2026 Helion Automotive Technologies | [Privacy Policy](https://heliontechnologies.com/privacy-policy) [mailto:marketing@heliontechnologies.com](mailto:marketing@heliontechnologies.com) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Erik Nachbahr", "url" : "https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/blog/author/erik-nachbahr" }, "dateModified" : "2026-07-31T21:30:44.458Z", "datePublished" : "2026-07-31T15:12:47.000Z", "headline" : "Automotive News: Dealerships “Prime Targets” for Cyber Attacks", "image" : [ "https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hubfs/Automotive-News-White-1.png" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/blog/2019/12/27/automotive-news-dealerships-prime-targets-for-cyber-attacks", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://marketing.heliontechnologies.com/hubfs/Helion_RGB_Logo.png" }, "name" : "Helion Technologies, Inc." } } ```