CDK Global, a company that provides software for sales management and other services to auto dealerships across the United States, was hacked, temporarily shutting down much of its systems.
That has effectively shut down about 15,000 car dealerships. General Motors dealers rely on CDK’s systems, as does Group 1 Automotive, an auto retailer with hundreds of dealerships across the U.S. Holman, which has dealerships in eight states, is also a CDK customer.
“We are currently investigating a cyber incident,” a CDK spokesperson told CBS News. “Out of an abundance of caution and consideration for our customers, we have taken the majority of our systems offline and are working diligently to restore them as quickly as possible.”
CDK said late Wednesday afternoon that after conducting tests and consulting with third-party experts, some systems were back up and running.
“Our core [dealer management system] In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, CDK said: “Our digital retail solutions have been restored. We continue to conduct extensive testing of all our other applications and will provide updates once those applications are back online.”
But CDK told CBS MoneyWatch on Thursday afternoon that its systems were taken offline again after another cyberattack on Wednesday.
“Late in the evening on June 19th, we experienced a new cyber incident and proactively shut down the majority of our systems,” the spokesperson said. “We are working with third-party experts to assess the impact and are providing regular updates to customers. We remain committed to restoring service as quickly as possible and enabling dealerships to return to business as usual.”
Calls to CDK’s customer support hotline always received a busy signal, but an automated recording from the company said the outage could affect dealerships for several days. PC Magazine“At this time we do not know the expected timeline for a resolution, therefore dealer systems will likely be unavailable for several days,” the message said, according to the newspaper.
The number of cyber attacks increased last year, with more than 3,200 data breaches expected in 2023, a 78% increase from the previous year, according to a new study by a data firm. SoaxeThe company added that such breaches affected more than 65 million victims last year.
CDK’s dealer management system (DMS) is a hub that allows companies to monitor operations from a single interface, and its retail tools allow dealers to conduct transactions online and in showrooms. Toronto-based private equity firm Brookfield Business Partners acquired the company in 2022. transaction It’s worth more than $8 billion.
What is CDK?
CDK gives dealers the tools to manage their business, including payroll, inventory, customer relations, office operations, etc. The technology also allows dealers to offer financing and insurance to car buyers.
The company’s website also touts its cybersecurity capabilities: “CDK Cybersecurity Solutions can help protect your dealership by providing a three-tiered cybersecurity strategy to prevent, protect and respond to cyber attacks,” the company said.
When did the cyber attacks start?
The cyber attack on CDK Global began on Tuesday night. Bleeping ComputerCybersecurity news site reported on Wednesday that 15,000 car dealerships it services had been taken offline.
As previously mentioned, CDK announced that it had been hit by another cyber attack on Wednesday evening.
At this time it is unclear who or what group is behind this cyber attack.
How are dealers responding?
Some dealerships seem to be getting creative to stay open during the outage, with one dealership employee posting the following about the outage: Reddit On Wednesday, they revealed they were relying on spreadsheets and sticky notes to sell small parts to customers and make repairs, but weren’t making any big deals.
“How many of you guys are on hold because the whole store is running on CDK?” an employee asked other dealership employees under the headline “CDK Down,” after users in Wisconsin and Colorado confirmed the dealership transaction system was offline.