Modern dealerships depend on technology for almost every part of the customer experience. Service departments use connected systems to check VIN information, access recall data, track parts, process warranty work, communicate with customers, and manage increasingly complicated repairs. That makes technology incredibly valuable. It also means an outage can bring a dealership to a crawl very quickly. Honda and Acura dealers recently got a firsthand reminder when Honda’s Interactive Network — known as iN — was taken offline following a cybersecurity incident. The system is used across Honda’s dealer network for critical day-to-day functions, and the disruption affected far more than one department. Without access, dealers reported being unable to access recall alerts, process certain transactions, pull VIN information, track parts, complete more complicated repair work, and perform other routine dealership operations. One Honda dealer told Car Dealership Guy News that the disruption ...