Eagers Automotive partners with SentinelOne to boost cybersecurity

Australia's automotive industry has faced several macro challenges recently, including a financial downturn, ongoing supply chain issues, and an expanding cyber threat landscape. One of the country's largest dealerships, Eagers Automotive, which has a history spanning over 110 years, has sought the help of SentinelOne to manage its operations effectively and defend against such cyber threats.

Following its 2019 acquisition of Automotive Holdings Group (AHG), Eagers Automotive has seen considerable growth across its operations. The company now boasts ownership of 120 motor vehicle dealerships across more than 180 locations throughout the country.

Eagers Automotive is leveraging intelligent solutions from SentinelOne that offer a targeted view of threats across connected devices to enhance its cybersecurity posture. This strategy promotes better visibility over the dealership's valuable assets while mitigating risk introduced by third-party vendors and partners, particularly those handling sensitive data.

Eagers Automotive employs extended detection and response (XDR) solutions from SentinelOne, a recognised expert in autonomous cybersecurity globally, to effectively detect, prevent, and respond to threats with high speed and efficiency. The company is moving faster than many contemporary digital threats to ensure the security of its operations.

Mark Nix, Chief Information Security Officer at Eagers Automotive, explained, "We realised the necessity of finding a solution that could extend the skillsets of our small security team and equip them with the right information and support to manage and impede attacks before they occur. Our prime concern has always been potential hackers lurking in our network."

Eagers uses SentinelOne's Singularity Hologram and Singularity Ranger AD to counter this. Singularity Hologram, a deception solution, utilises advanced, high-interaction deception and decoy technology to bait potential attackers and reveal their tactics while diverting them from real systems and data.

Eagers Automotive leverages this pioneering solution to detect and study network attacks, strengthen its defences from lessons learned, and reduce the overall time to detect, analyse, and stop attackers. Furthermore, the company gains a comprehensive view of its enterprise security landscape by integrating alerts with other SentinelOne technologies.

In addition, Eagers Automotive has implemented Singularity RangerAD, an identity configuration assessment solution which identifies misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and active threats aimed at Active Directory (AD) and Azure AD. Using this solution, Eagers can detect critical domain, device, and user-level exposures, analyse configuration changes to align with best practices, eliminate redundant privileges using automated scripts, and proactively monitor for potentially harmful activities.

Nix expressed satisfaction with SentinelOne by highlighting its effectiveness in providing clear insights into ongoing activities. In contrast to their previous solution, SentinelOne avoids overwhelming users with excessive information and false positives. Nix emphasised that the alerts received through SentinelOne are genuine, targeted and prioritise the essential issues that require attention.

"With SentinelOne, we can see what's really happening, and unlike our previous solution, we are not overwhelmed with an overflow of information and an influx of false positives," commented Nix.

"The alerts we receive are real, targeted, and focus on the main issues to address."