An ongoing cyberattack at a company called CDK Global has had the ripple effect of disrupting IT operations at potentially thousands of auto dealerships across the US.On Wednesday, various employees at US car dealers began reporting problems with using CDK’s software, which serves 15,000 auto retail locations throughout North America. CDK’s software is designed to help dealers sell cars online and in-person while offering other tools to manage finances and boost profits. As a result, the cyber attack seems to have forced many auto dealerships to halt crucial operations. “We have sent home the entire BDC (business development center) since they have nobody to call and can’t schedule service appointments,” wrote one Hyundai dealer on Reddit. “I am manning the phones solo asking people to call back later. Service is dead in the water. We are still selling and showing cars and doing paper contract. I feel like a caveman.”Indeed, some dealerships say they’ve resorted to using handwriting and paper documents to bypass the IT troubles with CDK’s software. But others have been forced to halt most, if not all operations. “Yeah all we can do is oil changes because we can’t even look up any parts, all tied into CDK at our dealership,” wrote another employee. It remains unclear what caused the cyberattack, and whether it’s related to ransomware. CDK didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company told Bloomberg it had to “shut all systems down” to conduct extensive testing in response to the cyber attack.
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CDK has since tried to restore access to the company’s core dealership management product and its retailing solutions. But the company is now telling customers it experienced an “additional cyber incident” on Wednesday late in the evening. “To protect our customers, we have taken down most of our systems,” the company said over a hotline dedicated to the cyber attack.“At this time, we do not have an estimated time frame for resolution and therefore our dealers’ systems will not be available likely for several days,” the hotline adds. “As of now, our customer care channels for support remain unavailable as a precautionary measure to maintain security.”
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