CDK Global cyberattack affects thousands of dealerships: Systems to be unavailable for “several days”

CDK Global has reportedly told customers it will be “several days” before its IT systems are restored at car dealerships across the United States, in the wake of more than one cyber attack on the company.

CDK Global supplies over 15,000 auto dealerships in the United States with commercial software for selling vehicles. At many dealerships throughout the country, this has brought operations to a halt.

CDK discloses second cyber incident

After being targeted by an initial cyber attack - which took place either late on Tuesday or early on Wednesday - CDK Global revealed today that it had suffered another incident late on Wednesday.

“Late in the evening of June 19, we experienced an additional cyber incident and proactively shut down most of our systems,” CDK said in a statement, per CNN.

“In partnership with third party experts, we are assessing the impact and providing regular updates to our customers. We remain vigilant in our efforts to reinstate our services and get our dealers back to business as usual as quickly as possible.”

“Systems not available likely for several days”

CDK Global is reportedly warning customers not to expect a quick fix.

According to PC Mag, a hotline set up by the company amid the ongoing disruption was telling clients as of Wednesday evening: “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.

“As of now, our customer care channels for support remain unavailable as a precautionary measure to maintain security.”

Who is behind the cyber attacks?

It remains unclear what form the cyber attacks have taken, or who is behind them.