Car Dealerships Are Being Disrupted By A Multi-Day Outage After Cyberattacks On Software Supplier

NEW YORK — This week, car dealerships around North America experienced huge interruptions.

CDK Global, which offers software to thousands of auto dealers in the United States and Canada, was struck by back-to-back intrusions on Wednesday. This resulted in an outage that disrupted many of their operations on Friday.

Prospective auto purchasers may face showroom delays or handwritten vehicle orders with no obvious end. Here’s what you should know.

CDK Global is a key player in the automotive sales business. The company, situated in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, supplies dealers with software technology to help with day-to-day operations such as vehicle sales, financing, insurance, and repairs.

Dealership | CNN Image

Car Dealerships Are Being Disrupted By A Multi-Day Outage After Cyberattacks On Software Supplier

According to the business, CDK supports over 15,000 retail locations in North America. It was unclear whether this week’s cyberattacks affected all of these places.

According to spokesperson Lisa Finney, CDK is “actively investigating a cyber incident” and has shut down all of its systems out of prudence.

According to Finney’s statement, CDK “executed extensive testing,” consulted third-party specialists, and restored its main DMS and Digital Retailing capabilities by the afternoon.

CDK encountered another “cyber incident” on Wednesday evening, according to Finney in an update the next day. “We remain vigilant in our efforts to reinstate our services and get our dealers back to business as usual as quickly as possible,” she said.

When that will happen is unknown. As of Friday morning, a recorded message from CDK on a hotline providing updates for its customers stated that “we do not have an estimated time frame for resolution—and therefore our dealer systems will be unavailable, most likely for several days.” According to the statement, customer care assistance lines are also inaccessible.

The notice also stated that the company was aware of “bad actors” posing as CDK members or affiliates in an attempt to get system access by contacting customers. It advised employers to be wary of any attempted phishing.

Car Dealerships Are Being Disrupted By A Multi-Day Outage After Cyberattacks On Software Supplier

Several major automakers, including Stellantis, Ford, and BMW, reported to The Associated Press on Friday that the CDK outage had affected some of their dealers, but sales activities will continue.

In view of the current scenario, a Stellantis spokeswoman stated that many dealerships have moved to manual processes to assist consumers, including writing orders by hand.

A Ford representative stated that the disruption could result in “some delays and inconveniences at some dealers and for some customers.” However, many Ford and Lincoln customers continue to receive sales and service support through other avenues used at dealerships.

With many elements of the intrusions still unknown, client privacy is a primary priority, especially because little is known about what information may have been hacked this week.

Dealerships | WSJ Image

Car Dealerships Are Being Disrupted By A Multi-Day Outage After Cyberattacks On Software Supplier

In a statement to the Associated Press on Friday, Mike Stanton, president and CEO of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said that “dealers are very committed to protecting their customer information and are actively seeking information from CDK to determine the nature and scope of the cyber incident so they can respond appropriately.”

SOURCE – (AP)