TorchLight and VTech Dealer IT today announced they have expanded their partnership to support dealerships that are meeting Graham-Leach-Bliley Act privacy standards.
Federal GLBA standards, which are intended to protect the public by increasing the safeguarding of financial data or personally identifiable information, were extended to dealerships in October 2021 and must be complied with by the end of 2022.
This compliance involves traditional cybersecurity practices, including information security plans, incident response plans and regular risk assessments, in addition to reporting on these practices, via documentation, to government agencies. TorchLight and VTech have been advising customers on how to meet these requirements, either from the ground up or by building on existing policies and procedures.
TorchLight and VTech first began their collaboration in November 2021 to provide security consulting, technology and services to VTech customers. To date, 90% of the dealerships that VTech represents are using TorchLight. TorchLight services that are popular with automobile dealers include encryption, multi-factor authentication, ransomware detection, malware prevention, security management and log policies.
“Dealerships are typically small businesses that are responsible for handling large transactions and significant client data. They are regular targets of bad actors and particularly ransomware,” noted VTech CEO John Acosta, “Many are starting from scratch when it comes to meeting GLBA, but the VTech-TorchLight team can help them cross the finish line in offering their customers these vital protections.”
“We have seen, and studies have shown, that companies who don’t have these plans can ultimately spend up to twice as much resolving security issues,” said TorchLight CTO Stephen Heath, “Meeting GLBA requirements involves both IT and cybersecurity expertise, the kind of planning and services that we can provide alongside VTech.”
The two companies have recently conducted a webinar on GLBA compliance that can be viewed here: www.vtechdealerit.com/category/resources/
