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TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The threat of cyber-attacks continues to make headlines and should serve as a reminder to us all to maintain digital security practices and also have some old school, manual back up plans.

The most recent event was a series of cyber-attacks on a company called C-D-K. C-D-K is used by the auto industry for all their back-office processing. Perhaps the best way to think of it is if the entire business office at your favorite business has been held hostage and ceased to function unless a ransom is paid. These recent hacks affected 15 thousand auto dealerships across the nation, some here in East Texas.

The net effect is that basic functions that are critical to sales and service are down, which causes dealerships to try to function using manual processes, even to the point of handwriting paper forms to complete transactions. We all have back up systems in our individual lives and in most businesses to some degree but those may not be enough.

The auto industry is one of the most sophisticated in the nation and if they can be compromised, others can too. It appears, also, in this case that ransom is involved and may already have been paid which will do nothing but inspire other bad actors. This is a new reality and one with real world impact and threats. Managers, employees and individuals must be vigilant in learning about these threats and then being smart when it comes to our cyber security.

This is a serious new battle front on which we must all fight.