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As today’s fastest-growing form of criminal activity, cybercrime is expected to cost organizations $6.1 trillion worldwide this year alone,1 with attacks on enterprises now occurring every 11 seconds2. But despite increasingly widespread growth in corporate IT security awareness, the importance of putting a sound data breach preparation plan in place for protecting your customers’ privacy and data can’t be underscored enough. Given the scale of IT security threats, it bears reminding: Network compromise is now largely a matter of when, not if for most businesses. As a result of this shift in security and operating environments, it’s important for enterprise leaders to note the six key reasons that most data breach responses fail: No Budget: Despite the seeming inevitability of a data breach, most companies’ average annual budget for a consumer response is exactly $0. Many companies and security teams believe they are fully prepared or won’t be targeted. But with losses due to ransomware attacks up 225% lately in the US alone3, it can be an expensive gamble to make. Never Tested: Even if a company does have a data breach response plan in place, it’s not usually been stressed-tested via live exercises and drills. Having a plan in place is a great first step, but unless you test it in a live breach simulation or exercise, you can’t be certain the plan will be successful. Unknown Impact: It can be hard to know how much of your customer population has been impacted by the breach. Your plan needs to be flexible enough to accommodate both small and massive breaches. No Estimate: Data breach responses also fail because there is no estimate for the scale of phone calls, emails, and complaints that may be received. To put things in perspective: A small data breach is MUCH different and easier to remedy than a one involving millions of records. Slow to Respond: By law, firms that suffer a data breach must now report the incident to government authorities within 72 hours. Failure to address increasing regulatory compliance and information sharing needs (which demand greater oversight and overhead from organizations), can come with hefty fines. No SLAs: Companies often don’t have the necessary agreements to guarantee the infrastructure and staff to assist consumers with resolving their cases. Having a dedicated, guaranteed number of call center agents ready to go when a company experiences a data breach is invaluable. To improve your odds of successfully defending against and responding to breaches, you’ll want to focus on strengthening four areas of operations: Guarantee Resources: Ensure that you have dedicated security resources and prepared to react to threats on the turn of a dime. Your SLAs should include well-trained, certified call center agents and the infrastructure ready to go. This should include scalable and high quality identity protection services to resolve harm to your customers. Readiness Testing: Failing to plan (i.e. not stress-testing your recovery plan prior to incidents occurring) is like planning to fail. By rehearsing your disaster response and recovery strategies, you’ll be able to identify any points of failure and shortcomings that you can improve upon before actual concerns arise. Regulatory Needs: Emphasize quick and accurate responses to regulator inquiries by understanding the specifics for your industry and business. Communications: Having a corporate communications plan ready to go in real-time is also key. Connect with your communications team to create a communications response plan prior to any incidents occurring so that all you largely need to tweak are specifics on the day of the event. According to studies by IBM, companies can save $1.2 million off the cost of data breaches by having an incident response plan in place and extensively testing it before cyber threats strike. Bearing this in mind, the best defense against digital dangers is a good offense. Experian’s Reserved Response™ was created to help organizations take a proactive approach to data breach response planning. Deploy it to put an end-to-end game plan in place and implement a step-by-step playbook that workers can follow in the event of  an incident. You’ll also guarantee that your organization gains the necessary manpower, infrastructure, and response readiness needed to ensure ongoing network resilience and a speedy recovery should disaster strike. 1 Cybersecurity Ventures, Annual Cybercrime Report 2020 2 Cybersecurity Ventures, Cybercrime to Cost the World $10.5 Trillion Annually by 2025 3 Cyberreason, Ransomware: The True Cost to Business Study 2021

Despite an unprecedented 18 months since the pandemic was in full force and many Americans were sent home, financial wellness continues to be on the up and up. Consumers continue to manage credit well and the average credit score climbed seven points since 2020 to 695, the highest point in more than 13 years. In Experian’s 12th annual State of Credit report, the headlines are hopeful regarding how Americans are managing personal finances in the face of the pandemic. The report provides a comprehensive look at the credit performance of consumers across America by highlighting consumer credit scores and borrowing behaviors. This year’s report features data from 2019 pre-pandemic, the 2020 pandemic year, and the start of 2021. “The findings from this year’s report show something I’ve always believed: Americans are resilient, for the most part they make smart decisions in the face of adversity and they are agile in adjusting their financial habits when the environment or circumstances change,” said Alex Lintner, President, Experian Consumer Information Services. Highlights of Experian’s State of Credit report: 2021 State of Credit Report 2019 2020 2021 Average VantageScore® credit score [1] 682 688 695 Median VantageScore® credit score 687 697 707 Average number of credit cards 3.0 3.0 3.0 Average credit card balance $6,494 $5,897 $5,525 Average revolving utilization rate 30% 26% 25% Average number of retail credit cards 2.50 2.42 2.33 Average retail credit card balance $1,930 $2,044 $1,887 Average nonmortgage debt $25,057 $25,483 $25,112 Average mortgage debt $210,263 $215,655 $229,242 Average auto loan or lease $19,034 $19,462 $20,505 Average 30–59 days past due delinquency rates 3.8% 2.4% 2.3% Average 60–89 days past due delinquency rates 1.9% 1.3% 1.0% Average 90–180 days past due delinquency rates 6.6% 3.8% 2.5% We asked Joseph Mayans, Principal Economist at Advantage Economics, LLC, for his reactions to the findings: “The State of Credit Report captures the three central themes of the pandemic. First, it shows the overwhelming success of the fiscal support packages. By far, the most striking example of this is the broad based and significant decline in delinquencies during a time when millions of people were out of work. Second, the report showcases the resiliency of American households. People used their stimulus dollars to stay on top of their bills and pay down debt, which boosted average credit scores across all generations. And third, it highlights the unique behavioral shifts brought on by the pandemic. We can see these changes in the rise of housing and auto debt as people bought larger homes and sought to drive rather than ride public transportation.” Generational Trends As indicated in the findings, consumers across all generations except Gen Z saw decreased utilization rates and decreased credit card balances year over year. Consumers are also missing fewer payments with notable improvements seen among the youngest consumers. Mortgage debt was up across every generation, which may correlate with the record low interest rates on mortgages, refinances and moves. According to the CBRE, “the pandemic accelerated several long-standing American migration patterns” as evidenced by more than 15.9 million people filing change-of-address requests with the United States Postal Service. Compared with 2019, 2020 change-of-address requests show a 4% increase in total movers, 2% increase in permanent movers and 27% increase in temporary movers, according to a study by MyMove. Mayans also made note of the mortgage trends. “It’s becoming clearer that millennials are stepping into the homebuying phase in a big way. Once thought to be the generation of apartments and urban revival, many older millennials are now buying homes and moving to the suburbs much like their parents before them,” Mayans said. “This will have significant implications for the post-pandemic world, especially as work from home becomes more prevalent.” State Trends The states with the highest and lowest average credit score remained unchanged from last year with the highest average score of 726 held by Minnesota and an average score of 666 held by Mississippi. New Jersey had the highest number of credit cards and retail cards at 3.37 and 2.54 respectively, and Alaska had the highest credit card debt at $7,089 (U.S. average is $5,525) and Texas had the highest retail debt at $2,248 (U.S. average is $1,888). What Lies Ahead Some have argued that the past year of the pandemic and quarantine forced a lot of time for reflection. The continued positive trends of consumer behavior seem to indicate some of that effort was put toward better financial health practices. That said, like any sourdough bread recipe or DIY home glow-up, there’s always more to learn and opportunities to seize when it comes to financial health. “We are committed to working with lenders and the industry to help consumers gain access to credit, driving broader financial inclusion, while also teaching consumers how to responsibly build and use credit responsibly,” Lintner said. In addition to the free weekly credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com, Experian also offers consumers free access to their credit report and ongoing credit monitoring at Experian.com. Additional credit education resources and tools Join Experian’s #creditchat hosted by @Experian on Twitter with financial experts every Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Bilingual and Spanish speakers are also invited to join Experian’s monthly #ChatdeCredito hosted on Twitter at 3 p.m. Eastern time beginning September 16. Visit the Ask Experian blog for answers to common questions, advice and education about credit. Add positive telecom, utility and streaming service payments to your Experian credit report for an opportunity to improve your credit scores by visiting experian.com/boost[2] For additional resources, visit https://www.experian.com/consumereducation To see all the findings, download the 2021 State of Credit Report.   Download the full report [1] VantageScore® is a registered trademark of VantageScore Solutions, LLC. VantageScore® credit score range is 300 to 850. [2] Results may vary. See Experian.com for details

Your local auto market changes every day. Today’s challenge is securing the inventory needed to keep new and repeat customers coming in the door. Tomorrow it might be finding the right customers for the inventory you have secured. Either way, understanding the competitive activity in your market is key to developing ongoing strategies for success. Important competitive insights include the ability to: • Gauge your performance against the competition by identifying each unit registered in your market • Discover what vehicles are popular among your consumers by make and model • Identify the key characteristics of customers in your area. In yet another benefit, Experian provides our AutoCheck Elite dealer clients with complimentary access to in-depth market reporting, including these comprehensive reports: The AutoCount Market Ranking Report Learn whether you’re getting your share of vehicle sales in your local market’s top zip codes. This report: • Lists all sales activity within a 15-mile radius of your dealership • Provides unbiased monthly information from state DMVs on new and used vehicle sales • Includes access to our web-based portal to provide instant access to a variety of customizable reports • Identifies vehicle registration by ZIP code to pinpoint marketing opportunities The AutoCount Vehicle Model Ranking Report Stock the right inventory by learning what vehicles are popular among your consumers (see example below). This report: • Provides an expanded view of the dealership’s market, which leads to more informed decisions that maximize untapped profit potential • Track the top 25 new and used vehicles within a 15-mile radius of your dealership as well as the top gainers and losers in the market • Offers an easy-to-read graphical summary of critical market information, including lender ranking • Gives an unbiased scorecard of dealership performance in the local market to determine market share and competitive insight Having access to monthly DMV reports and analysis can help deliver a competitive edge to your dealership. To become an AutoCheck member today, contact us or call 1.888.409.2204.