Stop the hacker
Part one:
Published: 12 May, 2022
Starting his latest two-parter, Adam looks at how to mitigate the impact of hackers on your business
While computer viruses have been around since 1982 it’s surprising that the first attacked an Apple computer. Put together by a 15-year-old fuelled by interest, not malice, it spread by floppy disk and was designed to be a simple prank. Now viruses infect all types of computer-based device, and are aimed at machines running Windows for they are in the majority and offer more rewards for the criminally-minded. In recent years hackers have wrought havoc. From keyloggers (which secretly record keystrokes) to ransomware such as CryptoLocker (which encrypts data and demands a ransom to decrypt), firms are at risk.
In January 2019, Kwik Fit confirmed its network had been infected and its systems knocked offline for a few days. The company was forced to cancel bookings. According to internet service provider Beaming, in 2018 UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were affected by cybercrime to the tune of £17.4 billion.
So, while the larger corporates – should – have processes in place to protect systems, what can the independent do?
1. Install protection
Dealing with viruses and other threats is an unwelcome distraction that takes time. The first sign might be a computer running slowly or behaving peculiarly. While some viruses are irritating, others are a serious threat. No form of inoculation can ever be perfect but installing an anti-virus package from a reputable software vendor is an obvious but crucial step to take. Some products charge but free versions are available from the likes of Avast and Microsoft (it’s built into Windows 10).
2. Update and scan
The key to anti-virus software is to keep the application updated and to regularly scan computers for threats; over time viruses morph as designers seek to work around the protections that security software puts in place.
Regularly scanning a computer or network for downloaded or installed threats is an absolute must. It ought to be done on the fly, but daily is better than nothing; Once a week should be the worst case. Scans are intensive and can cause a system to slow down and so should be timed for an off-peak moment and when computers aren’t in sleep-mode.
3. Update the operating system
Windows, Mac or Linux need regular updating. These systems are hugely complex and run to millions of lines of code and are riddled with vulnerabilities that are found with great regularity. It’s the reason why developers issue software updates and fix security issues.
4. The network is at risk
Online devices are permanently under threat. The problem is exacerbated when devices, such as the modem, router, computer, printer or any other connected item, are left with both default names and passwords. Defaults help hackers understand what is connected and how to attack what they’ve found. It is therefore critical to change the device name and password as soon as it’s connected. Wi-Fi products should, once set up, not broadcast their existence. This means turning off what is called the SSID. Passwords should be strong; Select at the minimum WPA or WPA2 encryption. If visitors are to connect to the network, ensure that they’re finding a router with a guest-discrete network, which allows access to the web and nothing else.
5. Strong passwords
Passwords represent another huge risk. It’s essential that the same ones are never reused. It’s entirely understandable that we reuse passwords or variants of them in combination with the same email address or username. But those that do, and who are unfortunate enough to have been compromised, will find that other accounts are put at risk.
To create a strong password, avoid names, places, pets or dates of birth. Use a long mixture of upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols. Search for an online password generator.
Lastly, change passwords frequently and especially when any member of staff leaves.
- Simplified, sustainable and sporty
Bridgestone – now recognised as a global leader in sustainable mobility and advanced solutions – has received a number of positive test results in recent times for its product range, which has been simplified and revitalised in the past two years.
Notably, the new Potenza Sport, the Turanza T005, the Weather Control A005 EVO and the Duravis All Season van tyre are recent additions to the line-up and all (bar the Potenza Sport and Duravis) benefit from Bridgestone’s unique DriveGuard run-flat technology, which allows motorists to keep on moving for 50 miles, at speeds up to 50mph, after a puncture.
Experience
In a nod to the past, Bridgestone has leant on its many years of motorsport experience to produce the Potenza Sport, which is arriving at dealers shortly having been revealed in December 2020. This next generation tyre represents a new standard in premium, high-end sports performance, providing best-in-class performance in the dry supported by a premium wet package.
Tested by TÜV SÜD, one of Europe’s most respected independent automotive testing institutes, Potenza Sport achieves the best performance in both dry braking (shortest braking distance on a dry surface) and cornering and straight-line stability (maintaining vehicle stability when travelling both in a straight line and through a curve) versus competitors in the premium segment. With an EU label A-grade in wet grip across its full line-up and deemed best performer in wet cornering and handling in further tests performed by TÜV SÜD as well, Bridgestone Potenza Sport also offers outstanding wet performance. In a huge early coup for the product, it has been selected as the exclusive original equipment tyre for the Lamborghini Huracán STO supercar, as well as long-time partner Maserati’s MC20 supercar.
For the present, and so much snow, frost and ice to negotiate in recent times, Bridgestone’s latest Duravis All Season van tyre is also being seen as a crucial piece in the overall product jigsaw, which boasts an ‘A’ rating in wet handling.
Like the Weather Control A005 EVO consumer tyre, the Duravis All Season has been designed to deliver year-round control, safety, and convenience, using Bridgestone’s advanced, high silica NanoPro-tech compound technology. Bridgestone has combined the compound with a new mixing technology that improves its silica dispersion to give the A005 EVO excellent fuel efficiency and enhance its overall snow potential.
Sustainable
When looking to the future, Bridgestone’s commitment to providing sustainable mobility and advanced solutions can be seen in the fact that around 30% of all new OE fitments developed by Bridgestone EMIA in 2020 were created specifically for EVs. From its ologic technology, created specifically for BMW’s all-electric i3, to the pioneering ENLITEN Technology, Bridgestone has always supported the development of EVs through groundbreaking tyre technologies. As well as shaping a sustainable future of mobility in its product output, Bridgestone is showing equal commitment to investing in greener practices in the development of those products, as 2020 proved.
Virtual Tyre Modelling represents the future of tyre development at Bridgestone, and its already in use today. The technology enables Bridgestone to create a digital twin of the tyre at its development stage, reducing the volume of physical prototype tyres, and subsequently raw materials, needed, and cutting the product development time by up to 50%. Thanks to Bridgestone’s continued advancement and application of the technology in 2020, 20% fewer experimental tyres were used in the development phase of OE tyres in EMIA from 2019. Furthermore, thanks again to the use of Virtual Tyre Modelling and the rise of indoor testing, Bridgestone EMIA reduced the distance of its fleet tests for OE by 25% from 2019 to 2020.
Cutting-edge
We’re pushing the boundaries of what is possible in engineering to deliver new cutting-edge products that are developed in more advanced and sustainable ways to offer a superior performance. In our Turanza T005, Weather Control A005 EVO, Duravis All Season and Potenza Sport we do believe we have one of the most impressive consumer product portfolios in the marketplace today. It’s also great that we’ve been able to work in partnership with the world’s leading car manufacturers to meet our collective environmental goals and shape a more sustainable future of mobility, via our ENLITEN technology.
- To the highest standard
More often than not within the pages of Aftermarket, we will refer to the fact that the internal make-up of vehicles has changed greatly in recent years, and that the shift towards electrification is accelerating the process further. No one knows this more than companies making parts, be they OE, Tier One or going straight into the aftermarket.
Wanting to show the world more about the work that go into producing the EGR valves, air mass meters, exhaust pressure sensors and many other parts that they make, SMP Europe recently invited the press to take a peek inside their UK engineering centre in Nottinghamshire in order to shed some light on how their products go from an idea to being a physical item in the hand. With manufacturing taking place both at home and in Torun, Poland, the primary purpose for touring the UK site was to find out how the team take products from idea to prototype at as rapid a pace as is practical, get them tested and then get them into full production.
The company chose a good time to open the doors too, particularly when looking towards the EV side. With electric cars of all types becoming more common, garages are starting to think about the need to get parts, and realising that it is not easy. SMP Europe are already thinking in this direction, and they have even put in an EV garage on site for testing on the vehicle itself, but we are getting ahead of ourselves here. We will come to that later.
Tour
The tour began in the engineering department, where the various parts are designed, taking in the reality of the hardware itself – the key physical elements, and the firmware side, which many people would refer to as software. With many ideas on parts that could be produced by the company coming from the sales team that is out talking to the factors and garages, the first step is putting together the building blocks. Once the team have decided that a product will be both viable and profitable, they embark on their work towards producing a part. The part itself is designed just a desk away from where the firmware is written from scratch to do the job it needs to do. To enable this to happen, production designers and mechanical engineering designers sit side-by-side. On one side of the room, you have programming and circuits being designed, then on the other you have the casings being put together in CAD programmes where potential parts can be visualised and designed in 3D.
With just a connecting door to traverse, our next stop took us through to a clean workshop, where thanks to investment in 3D printing, the team are able to swiftly move from the design stage to a point where they can have an early prototype in their hands, which they can then begin to perform physical tests on, to see if what they have come up with is viable. From here we moved onto the machine room where circuit boards drawn by the human staff just a few metres away can be constructed by robots, and then finished via drying in a 12-stage oven. We then stepped through to the Validation Test Laboratory. “This is one of the most important areas in the factory,” said Engineering Manager John Wass, as it is where the team find out if what they are making actually works. This includes three thermal cycle ovens where products can be put through the stresses that both very low and very high temperatures will inflict. If that’s not tough enough, there is also a thermal shock chamber, and a pair of hot soak ovens a salt spray machine and an electromagnetic test unit, built especially for the company.
One of the last parts of the process is on-vehicle testing, and with this in mind we found ourselves in the on-site garage. The area is split between an internal combustion engine vehicle section and an EV area and even has a jukebox sourced from the local pub so the team have music while they work. Here they are able to try the parts in a real-world setting, with real-world stresses and strains as the parts would experience on the vehicle. Once a part has survived and successfully passed the prototype phase, they will ultimately end up in production, and eventually in real garages, with real mechanics. Once a part works, it can be put into production, and on the factory floor, parts are constructed, with many, such as air mass meters each being set, one-by-one. “Individual calibration is the only way,” John pointed out. “We have tried to find a way to set them all en masse, but there is no way of doing it.” Remember that when you order one in.
Electrification
This is a tried-and-tested process that works well for the company, which in the last year alone has introduced a host of parts including ignition leads, NOx sensors, fuel vapour valves (FVVs) and much more. However, the company was keen to share its move towards providing EV parts for its customers.
It’s not an easy jump though. As SMP Europe Marketing Director Martin Turner observed, while they can get a product for an internal combustion engine vehicle from idea to production in around six to 12 months, with EV parts the situation is not quite the same: “At the moment, it is relatively early days. From an R&D side, we need more information on what components are failing.” As well as identifying parts that may need to be produced by SMP Europe, the team is working with experts in the EV field, such as garages in the HEVRA network, and notable names such as Matt Cleevely from Cleevely Garage, who are able to help them source hard-to-obtain donor parts for research. Once they have gotten hold of the parts and are able to study them, they can begin the process we have described here.
Of course, while parts from across the gamut of the EV parc, ranging from the humble Renault Zoe to the proprietorially data-obtuse output of Tesla are often drivetrain or even vehicle-specific, there is still a lot of cross-pollination from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. Martin said: “We do have, as part of our core ranges, parts that are common across both ICE vehicles and electric as well, like wheel speed sensors and temperature sensors. It's an ongoing project that our product management team are focusing on to maximise that offering as much as possible. We want to make sure that the garages and factors feel confident that if they have an electric vehicle come through, that they're able to offer the parts that they need. This is where they're trying to identify potential needs for the market and create the product to fit that need.”
Martin concluded: “It is a quite complicated process, but the message we want to get out to market is that that development is happening.”
- Core Diagnostics appoints Neil Hilton
Neil Hilton has been named as Technical Sales Director at Core Diagnostics, which is offering cloud-based solution for programming and coding of new parts, along with remote support for ADAS calibrations.
- IMI members against proposed MOT changes
The vast majority of garages are against moving the first MOT test from when a car is three years old to when it is four years old, according to an IMI member survey, although in a concurrent poll of motorists, only half were in favour of keeping the MOT start at three years.
- Six key marketing questions
I have worked with Mike Schlup, Kalimex MD for 19 years. As you would imagine, the brand started from humble beginnings. In the early years I worked in what was a glorified stationery cupboard but nevertheless we were focused on world domination, one sale at a time.
In the last 19 years Kalimex has really taken off and is now the top performing distributor of the JLM Lubricants’ product range; A position they have occupied for 10 years – pretty much from when they started selling JLM products. This is no mean feat, given JLM have 45 distributors scattered in all corners of the globe and a thriving business at their home base in the Netherlands.
With this in mind, I thought you would find it useful if I share some of the marketing tips that have contributed to the success of Kalimex because they can be applied in your workshop. As with anything, talking about marketing and planning marketing is great, but you must move swiftly onto actually doing it.
Here are six cut-to-the-chase questions you need to answer and action:
#1: Do we have an end target for 2023 in terms of sales?
I am reminded of this quote from Seneca: “If one does not know to which port one is sailing then no wind is favourable.” Set realistic targets, ones you can reach at a stretch with some elbow grease; Tough, but within your grasp. Every month monitor how close you are to reaching them. Discuss the targets with team members so they are aware you are not standing still and they have a part to play in your success. Sales are the lifeblood of any business, whether the sales are from existing customers, new ones or as is more likely a mix of both. If you are not setting targets, you risk settling for second best, which benefits no one. Worse still, there is the risk of realising mid-way through the year that sales are not even covering your overheads, let alone making a profit.
#2: Will you sell (more) products to customers?
Aftermarket shared some fascinating research from Castrol a few issues ago, looking at the opportunities workshops have to generate additional income from repeat sales of high-quality lubricants and additives. Here are two key take outs:
Workshops are missing out on upselling opportunities. Over a third of motorists say they are ‘never’ offered a choice of consumables alongside a vehicle service; Just over a quarter say ‘sometimes;’ and only a fifth say ‘always.
A majority (51%) said they would be happy for their workshop to upsell more expensive, premium-quality consumables if the benefits were explained to them.
Barry Lawson, a member of Darren Darling’s DPF Doctor Network is a technician renowned for building a growing channel of repeat sales from selling JLM Lubricants’ products to his customers. With motorists keen to cut repair bills, the market is right for superior quality lubricants and additives. And you are in pole position to recommend them and use them.
#3: Are you willing to commit more resources – human and financial to growing your business?
For any workshop there comes a time when the next stage of growth can only be accomplished with an injection of money, and/or an additional person supporting the sales effort. Are you trying to do everything on your own? Will you reach your sales targets if you bring another person into the team? A part time person working a few days a week can be the key that unlocks the growth potential in your business.
#4: What must change for us to grow?
Be honest; Is the growth potential of your business affected by problems that need addressing now? Are you not investing enough time working on your business because you’re working in it and can’t see the wood for the trees? Are you allowing yourself to be distracted by non-income generating activities? Is your marketing scattergun rather than targeted? Only you can see what must change within your business to unlock the door to more sales.
#5: What are market conditions now and how do they affect our workshop?
We know from research conducted by the Motor Ombudsman that in a bid to save money some motorists are cutting back on servicing and repairs. It’s a false economy of course. So, make sure you keep in regular contact with customers, sharing top tips on vehicle maintenance and reminding them of the importance of booking the next service and the benefits of doing so. Customers may not have made the connection with regular vehicle servicing and fuel optimisation/long term reduced running costs. It’s your job to educate them.
#6: Do we have a marketing plan?
Far from being a document to be filed away and forgotten, look upon it as a useful plan of action that saves time, provides clarity, and focus and, that enables you to take the next steps in growing your business. Here are the key headers.
