NEW YORK (NEWSnet/AP) — The impact continued into Friday from a cyberattack on a software company commonly relied on by car dealerships for daily business operations.

CDK Global, a company that provides software for thousands of auto dealers in the U.S. and Canada, was hit by back-to-back cyberattacks on Wednesday.

For some customers, the disruption among office files and communications has led to appointment delays— or even vehicle orders written up by hand.

CDK Global, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., provides software technology to dealers that helps with day-today operations — like facilitating vehicle sales, financing, insurance and repairs. Its client base includes more than 15,000 retail locations across North America, according to the company.

Whether all of these locations were impacted by this week's cyberattacks was not immediately clear.

What Happened?

 

CDK began “actively investigating a cyber incident” and the company shut down all of its systems out of an abundance of caution, spokesperson Lisa Finney said Wednesday.

CDK “executed extensive testing," consulted third-party experts, and restored its core DMS and Digital Retailing solutions by the afternoon, Finney said in a prepared statement.

But on Wednesday evening, Finney said in an updated report, CDK experienced another "cyber incident.”

When Will Software Service Resume?

 

“We remain vigilant in our efforts to reinstate our services and get our dealers back to business as usual as quickly as possible,” Finney said.

When that will be is still unknown. As of Friday morning, a recorded message from CDK on a hotline detailing updates for its customers said “we do not have an estimated time frame for resolution — and therefore our dealer systems will not be available, likely for several days.”

Customer care support channels also remain unavailable, it said.

The message added that the company was aware of “bad actors” posing as members or affiliates of CDK to try to obtain system access by contacting customers. It urged employers to be cautious of any attempted phishing.

Are Dealerships Still Selling Cars?

 

Several major auto companies — including Stellantis, Ford and BWM — confirmed to The Associated Press Friday that the CDK outage had impacted some of their dealers, but that sales operations continue.

A spokesperson for Stellantis said that many dealerships had switched to manual processes to serve customers. That includes writing up orders by hand.

A Ford spokesperson said 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.

What's the Impact on Customers?

 

With many details of the cyberattacks still unknown, customer privacy is also at top of mind — especially with little known about what information may have been compromised this week.

In a statement sent to the AP 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."

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