Pub. 11 2021 Issue 3

8 AUTOMOBILE DEALER NEWS ILLINOIS illinoisdealers.com The FTC Safeguards Rule — Perils of Non-Compliance — 4 Key Must-Haves to Avoid These Perils By Doug Fusco – CEO – DSGSS – IADA Compliance Partner T he FTC Safeguards Rule has been around since 2003 and sets forth standards for developing, implementing and maintaining reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect the security, confidentiality, and integrity of customer information. It, unfortunately, remains one of the biggest challenges in our day-to-day operations. With the new pandemic creation of the “virtual showroom” environment, the threat landscape has grown exponentially. And the new administration has already announced a renewed focus in this area. When you consider the pressures we face today — speed, transparency, economic pressure, market competition, turnover, training and temptation — one can see why the challenges still exist. We need a better way to protect ourselves against not only the fines we have all heard about (which can now be up to $42,000 per violation) but, equally important, the collateral damage to your brand from such an incident. And to make matters worse, it’s not going away anytime soon! Experts have predicted a renewed focus on Safeguards, mystery shoppers in more markets, and potential new laws making it easier for consumers to file class-action lawsuits. Plaintiff’s Attorneys have gone as far as renting billboards in major markets requesting a phone call “if a dealer has run your credit.” The deck is not stacked in our favor. We make a written promise to every customer and prospect in our Privacy Statement. Yours most likely has a phrase similar to this: “To protect your personal information from unauthorized access and use, we use security measures that comply with federal law. These measures include computer