Automotive dealerships
DMS and lender connections, F&I workstations, customer Wi-Fi, OEM portals and every rooftop in the group. Santre plans for the day a dealership system fails and secures the ones that keep running.
A review of DMS dependencies, F&I security, network segmentation and backups, with a prioritized fix list.
Overview
Santre provides dealership IT for Canadian dealers and dealer groups. It manages the workstations, networks and Microsoft 365 environment around the DMS, secures the F&I office, separates customer Wi-Fi from operational systems, protects email against account takeover, and keeps backups that attackers cannot delete. Santre also documents a manual fallback plan for DMS or vendor outages and tests it with the store. Work is delivered as a managed service, a one-time assessment, or alongside a group's internal IT staff.
Common challenges
When CDK's systems went down in June 2024, Canadian dealerships wrote deals on paper and re-keyed them once service returned. Santre maps which sales, F&I, service and parts processes depend on the DMS, prepares manual fallback forms and contact lists, and runs a walkthrough with managers so the store knows its first hour of an outage.
Related services: Backup & Recovery, Consulting, Managed IT
Credit applications, identification and signed contracts pass through F&I and out to lenders and third-party vendors. Santre applies MFA, endpoint detection and removal of local admin rights on F&I workstations, and keeps a documented list of which vendors connect to dealership systems and how.
Related services: Cybersecurity, Managed IT
Attackers who take over a dealer's mailbox can use it to send fraudulent emails to customers, lenders and suppliers. Santre enforces MFA and Conditional Access, publishes SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, alerts on suspicious mailbox rules, and runs phishing simulations for sales, F&I and accounting staff.
Related services: Cybersecurity, Cloud & Microsoft
A flat network lets a guest device in the showroom sit beside the DMS terminal, the payment terminal and the service-bay PCs. Santre separates guest Wi-Fi, payment devices, OEM and DMS traffic and staff workstations into their own segments with firewall rules between them, and documents the layout for each rooftop.
Related services: Network & Infrastructure, Cybersecurity
Ransomware crews look for backups first, because deleting them raises the pressure to pay. Santre keeps immutable and offsite copies of servers, Microsoft 365 and local dealership data, monitors every backup job, and runs scheduled restore tests so recovery time is known before it is needed.
Related services: Backup & Recovery
Dealer groups grow by acquisition, which leaves each store with its own firewall, Wi-Fi, PCs and camera system. Santre standardizes builds across rooftops, procures and deploys matching hardware, and manages cameras and access control alongside the rest of the network.
Related services: Network & Infrastructure, Hardware & Deployment, Physical Security
Canadian requirements
Summaries for orientation, last reviewed . Confirm your obligations with your regulator or counsel.
Frequently asked questions
Have a written fallback before it happens. That means paper or offline forms for deals and repair orders, a current export of key customer and inventory reports, contact details for lenders and the DMS vendor, and a clear owner for re-keying transactions afterwards. Santre prepares this plan with the dealership, keeps the supporting files backed up, and walks managers through it so the first hour of an outage is not improvised.
No. The DMS vendor supports its own software and hosting. Santre manages everything around it: the workstations, network, firewalls, Wi-Fi, Microsoft 365, printers and backups that the dealership owns, and it coordinates with the DMS vendor when an issue crosses that line. Santre also reviews which third-party tools have access to DMS data.
Yes. Santre standardizes network, Wi-Fi, security and workstation builds across stores, documents each site, and supports new rooftops as the group adds them, including network setup, hardware deployment and user onboarding. Work can be delivered fully managed or alongside a group IT lead who wants help with monitoring, security and projects, and reporting covers every store in the group.
Dealerships that handle personal information in commercial activity are generally subject to PIPEDA, which requires reporting breaches that create a real risk of significant harm and keeping a record of every breach for 24 months. Some provinces add their own rules. Santre's incident playbooks include notification steps and evidence collection; your counsel confirms which obligations apply.
Santre implements and documents the controls insurers commonly ask about, such as MFA, endpoint detection, immutable backups, email authentication and an incident response plan, and helps you answer the questionnaire accurately. Each answer is tied to a documented control, so it can be supported if a claim is later reviewed. Santre can also review the controls before renewal so gaps are fixed first. The insurer makes the underwriting decision.
A review of DMS dependencies, F&I security, network segmentation and backups, with a prioritized fix list.
