CDK Cyberattack Sees Auto Retailers Suffering From Software Outage

CDK Global is still suffering from multiple cyberattacks, with a second breach reportedly making it unable to restore operations and thus shutting down car dealerships and auto retailers across the United States.

Following a cyberattack, CDK Global, a firm that supplies software to nationwide car dealerships to manage sales and other services, had to shut down most of its systems temporarily.

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About 15,000 auto dealerships are prevented from making sales because of this. CDK's technologies are utilized by General Motors dealerships and Group 1 Automotive, an auto retailer with hundreds of dealerships nationwide. Another client of CDK's is Holman, which has dealerships in eight states in the US.

Later on Wednesday afternoon, CDK said that some of its systems had been restored after testing and consultation with outside specialists.

Nevertheless, CDK reported to sources on Thursday afternoon that another cyberattack had taken down its systems, this time on Wednesday. A representative at CDK, Lisa Finney, verified the second event and the subsequent shutdown of most of their systems.

CDK Customer Service Outage

A busy signal always appeared when someone called a CDK customer care hotline. However, according to the company's automated recording, dealerships may be impacted by the outage for days.

According to sources, the cyberattack on CDK Global started on Tuesday night and knocked out the 15,000 car dealerships it services.

As previously stated, CDK said that on Wednesday night, it was the target of another cyberattack. Who or what organization is now responsible for the cyberattack is currently unknown.

As per CBS, a few dealerships seemed to develop inventive ways to stay open amid the interruption. Employees at the dealership shared on Reddit on Wednesday about the downtime, stating that they were not completing any significant transactions, selling small components to clients, and doing repairs using spreadsheets and sticky notes.

Cyberattacks Against Automakers

Cyberattacks against the vital infrastructure of numerous large automakers are only getting worse. Nissan most recently acknowledged that a data breach at Nissan North America may have compromised vital data belonging to 53,000 present and past workers.

Nissan revealed that the evil party had gained access to its external virtual network, disrupted multiple business processes, and demanded a ransom. According to the company, none of its systems were encrypted during the hack.

The business evaluated the circumstances, took charge of the problem, and eliminated the threat in collaboration with independent cybersecurity specialists.

After further investigation, it was found that the hacker had accessed a small number of files on local and network devices, most of which contained information relevant to businesses.

On February 28, the company found specific personal data in the data, most of which concerned former and current NNA [Nissan] employees, including Social Security numbers.