CDK Global Hit by Cyberattack, Services Resume Thursday

CDK Global, a car dealership software provider, is set to restore services for all its dealers by Thursday, July 4, following a cyberattack. In a statement, a CDK spokesperson, Lisa Finney, attributed the outage to a "phased approach to the restoration process," with the Dealer Management System (DMS) being their priority.

“We are continuing our phased approach to the restoration process and are rapidly bringing dealers live on the Dealer Management System (DMS). We anticipate all dealer connections will be live by late Wednesday, July 3, or early morning Thursday, July 4. Our customer service channels have also been restored for those experiencing issues.” - CDK spokesperson Lisa Finney

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2019/07/01/car-dealership-management-software-outage-nationwide-cdks-cdk-global/1613629001/

The company suffered a ransomware attack on June 19, resulting in a reported ransom demand and a complete shutdown of its systems. Serving over 15,000 dealerships across North America, the outage impacted various services, including vehicle acquisitions, sales, financing, repairs, and maintenance.

The cybercriminal team BlackSuit has been identified as the culprits behind the attack. According to [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/blacksuit-hacker-behind-cdk-global-attack-hitting-us-car-dealers-2024-06-27/#:~:text=SAN%20FRANCISCO%2C%20June%2027%20(Reuters,%2Dthe%2Dscenes%20software%20suppliers.), BlackSuit is a newer group spun off from the Russia-linked hacking collective RoyalLocker. Security firm Recorded Future confirms they have breached at least 95 organizations globally.

Car dealerships are an appealing target for cybercriminals due to the sensitive customer data they possess. This includes credit applications, financial information, and interconnected systems, as highlighted by insurance company Zurich North America.

The impact of the CDK outage on dealership operations has been significant, with many reverting to pen and paper processes. Analysts predict a drop of over 5% in new car sales for June compared to the previous year. Dealers like Thad Szott and Craig Schreiber have expressed the challenges of manual, cumbersome processes during the outage.