Car dealerships also fall victim to hackers who paralyze employees’ computers with e-mails. One of the youngest victims is BaderMainzl. The Upper Bavarian company has therefore made a pit stop and acquired a new protection: SecuMail – an online filter service that is always prepared for the current dangerous situation.

In recent years, horrific news has repeatedly circulated in the media: hospitals have had to cancel operations and transfer patients to other hospitals. The reason: Hackers had encrypted the computers and demanded ransom for the data. These extortion attempts are now also affecting car dealerships. BaderMainzl from Bavaria, authorized dealer of Audi and VW, is the proof. “One day, an employee opened the Excel file in an email. A virus was hidden in it that blocked data and only wanted to release it again for a ransom,” recalls Tobias Thut, IT coordinator at BaderMainzl. “We had to format and reinstall computers because of this.”

 

Problem: The provider’s spam filter works unreliably

The chaos was caused by the spam filter, which the web host has integrated into its mail server as an additional service. “Hardly any email provider specializes in spam filtering. The integrated filters often do not work accurately enough to reliably protect companies from the dangerous situation in 2018,” says SecuMail Product Manager Hannes Wilhelm. And this unreliability didn’t just lead to a security risk. “The employees were uncertain, they kept calling the IT department to ask whether an incoming e-mail could be dangerous,” confirms Tobias Thut. “More than 200 clients have massively distracted the department from its core tasks. We worked with the handbrake on.”

In addition, there was another problem: the annoyance of so-called false positives – peaceful e-mails that mistakenly end up in the spam filter. “Absolutely damaging to business that the old filter filtered out important customer inquiries and employees had no chance to access these emails. For this, they needed support from an administrator. It was clear: a new spam filter solution was needed.”

 

Solution: Online filter service SecuMail from WorNet

Thut went in search of a reliable spam filter. And found what they were looking for in the immediate vicinity. At WorNet, an IT company that developed SecuMail – an email filtering service that specializes in spam filtering. The service consists of a network of filter servers that operate in the cloud and act as a security instance between corporate networks and the internet. The filters perform an automatic security check within seconds and block spam and messages with dangerous content so that they do not reach the corporate network.

The experts at WorNet adapt the filters to the current threat situation at any time – without the customer having to do anything themselves. In some cases, employees even check emails manually. “Email security is a cat and mouse game. You can only catch the mice reliably if you don’t hunt on the side, but specialize in it,” Wilhelm is convinced. “That’s exactly what we did with SecuMail. We offer companies security that is far superior to web hosts with integrated spam filters.” Thut also confirms this: “We tested SecuMail for a month at the beginning of the cooperation. We quickly realized that the service takes spam filtering to a new level.”

 

Thut: “We have excellent hit rates of almost 100 percent”

SecuMail has now been in operation at the BaderMainzl car dealership for a year. “We have excellent hit rates of almost 100 percent. With thousands of e-mails, a spam message arrives at most every two weeks. Normality has therefore returned to the company. Employees have regained confidence in e-mail traffic and no longer ask the IT department anxious questions. “Thanks to this relief, we can concentrate on our core business again. The handbrake has finally been released.”

But the IT department is not only happy about more security. The probability of false positives damaging to business has also fallen to zero percent. “At the end of the day, all employees receive a daily summary from SecuMail. There they can immediately see whether the system has mistakenly blocked an important e-mail,” explains Thut. Employees were also given access to these emails – without the assistance of an administrator. At the same time, the filters automatically register that they should not have filtered the message and learn from this error for the future.

 

High data protection and responsive on-site service

And what about data security? Excellent, because WorNet operates its service in its own data center in Munich, where German data protection regulations apply. The company guarantees: Data never leaves the country. In addition, the servers are at the highest security level and are therefore protected against manipulation attempts and unauthorized access.

The BaderMainzl car dealership benefits not least from a responsive service. “At many large companies, people talk stupidly and stupidly on the phone when problems arise, which can lead to real bottlenecks in everyday work,” says Thut. “At WorNet, on the other hand, we immediately have a contact person on the line. Thanks to our geographical proximity, we also benefit from an on-site service that is immediately on the spot. This gives us a feeling of security and makes SecuMail a no-brainer.”

At a glance

• Autohaus BaderMainzl GmbH & Co. KG
• Locations: Feldkirchen Westerham, Bruckmühl-Heufeld, Rosenheim and Wolfratshausen
• Founded in 1999
• Employees: 400 at four locations
• Largest AUDI and VW dealer in the Mangfall Valley

Result:

Neither spam nor dangerous attachments reach the company network of the BaderMainzl car dealership. Security has reached a new level. Employees have regained confidence in e-mail traffic and do not need protection from the IT department. Both sides have more resources to focus on their core business. And the problem of false positives no longer plays a role either. All employees receive a daily summary. If an email has been blocked by mistake, they can access it at lightning speed – without any administrator intervention. Data security is also guaranteed. WorNet operates the solution in its own data center in Munich and complies with the strict German data protection guidelines.

 

Get to know us! 08171 / 24692-0

WorNet AG
Bürgermeister-Graf-Ring 28
82538 Geretsried

08171 / 24692-0
www.secumail.de

 

 

Source: This interview was conducted on our behalf by the company Wortliga GmbH. Mr. Tobias Thut from Bader-Mainzl was interviewed.