Car dealerships across North America are facing major problems because of cyberattacks on CDK Global, a company that provides important software for auto dealers. The attacks happened last Wednesday and have caused ongoing issues for many dealerships.
CDK Global is a big player in the car sales industry. They provide software that helps dealers with things like selling cars, arranging financing, and managing repairs.
The company works with over 15,000 dealerships in North America.
After the cyberattacks, CDK shut down all its systems to be safe. They’re working on fixing the problem, but say it might take several days. In the meantime, they’ve warned their customers to be careful of fake messages from people pretending to be CDK.
While CDK hasn’t said if this was a ransomware attack (where hackers demand money to unlock files), the situation looks similar to other ransomware incidents.
Despite the problems, car dealerships are still selling cars. Many have switched to doing things by hand, like writing up orders on paper. Big car companies like Stellantis, Ford, and BMW say some of their dealers are affected, but they’re finding ways to keep working.
Group 1 Automotive, a company that owns many dealerships, says they’re using other ways to do business until CDK’s systems are back up.
One big worry is customer privacy. With little known about what information might have been stolen, experts are telling people who have dealt with CDK-affiliated dealerships to watch their credit reports carefully and be alert for suspicious emails.
The National Automobile Dealers Association says dealers are committed to protecting customer information and are waiting for updates from CDK to understand how big the problem is.