CDK Cyberattack Extends Dealership Outages

Car dealerships across the United States faced a second consecutive day of system outages on Thursday following a cyberattack on software provider CDK Global, which supports thousands of dealerships nationwide. Lisa Finney, a spokesperson for CDK Global, confirmed the company’s systems were proactively shut down to mitigate the impact of the cyber incident. The company is collaborating with experts to assess the damage and restore services as quickly as possible, with the goal of resuming normal operations for their dealers.

Reports from CNN indicate that systems could remain down for the entirety of Thursday. The network received a screenshot from an anonymous dealer showing a message from CDK sent to dealerships. Mike Stanton, President and CEO of the National Automobile Dealers Association, stated that dealers are actively seeking information from CDK Global to understand the nature and extent of the cyber incident in order to respond appropriately.

The exact timing of the initial cyberattack remains unclear, with CBS News reporting it occurred Tuesday evening, while Quartz suggested it was early Wednesday. Additionally, the identity of the individual or group responsible for the attacks is still unknown. CDK Global serves over 15,000 dealerships across North America, according to their website. However, it is not specified how many of these dealerships are located in the U.S. CDK Global has been contacted for further information.

CDK Global provides a wide range of services and products, including digital retail tools and IT solutions for various sectors in the automotive industry, such as car dealerships and equipment manufacturers. The company was spun off from Automatic Data Processing Inc. in 2014 and was later acquired by Brookfield Business Partners for $6.4 billion in 2022, according to Bloomberg.