CDK cyberattack still affecting car dealerships across the country
FILE - Vehicles for sale at an AutoNation Honda dealership in Fremont, California, US, on Monday, June 24, 2024. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Nearly two weeks after a series of cyberattacks upended the software management system for thousands of car dealerships across the country, many dealers are still offline.
The CDK outage is affecting purchases and repairs for customers, and not to mention the day-to-day workflow of those who work in the affected dealerships.
Here is the latest on the CDK outage and what to know about the cyberattack:
What is CDK?
CDK Global is a company that provides software for thousands of car dealers in the U.S. and Canada.
The company, based just outside of Chicago in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, provides software technology to dealers that helps with day-to-day operations — like facilitating vehicle sales, financing, insurance and repairs.
CDK serves more than 15,000 retail locations across North America, according to the company. Whether all of these locations were impacted by the cyberattacks was not immediately clear.
CDK cyberattack
CDK was hit by a series of cyberattacks on June 19.
The company shut down all of its systems in the following days out of an abundance of caution and has not been able to fully restore operations since.
CDK Group reportedly told its dealers that they were unlikely to be back online prior to the end of the month on June 30, which is an important time for meeting sales quotas.
USA Today reported Friday evening that some dealerships were seeing their systems restored, and Automotive News reported Saturday morning that rebooting efforts were continuing.
Are impacted dealerships still selling cars?
Several major auto companies — including Stellantis, Ford and BMW — confirmed to The Associated Press last week that the CDK outage had impacted some of their dealers, but that sales operations continue.
In light of the ongoing situation, a spokesperson for Stellantis said Friday that many dealerships had switched to manual processes to serve customers. That includes writing up orders by hand.
A Ford spokesperson added that the outage may cause "some delays and inconveniences at some dealers and for some customers." However, many Ford and Lincoln customers are still getting sales and service support through alternative routes being used at dealerships.
Are customers impacted?
With many details of the cyberattacks still unclear, customer privacy is also at top of mind.
If you’ve bought a car from a dealership that’s used CDK software, cybersecurity security experts stress that it’s important to assume your data may have been breached.
Those impacted should monitor their credit and be wary of any phishing attempts.
This story was reported from Detroit. The Associated Press contributed.