CDK Global, a major car dealership software company utilized by thousands of dealers nationwide, is picking up the pieces after a cyberattack resulted in a multi-day system shutdown.
The initial attack happened June 19, prompting the cloud-based software company to take all systems offline “out of an abundance of caution.” CDK’s system is used by more than 15,000 auto dealerships across North America to manage everything from vehicle acquisitions and sales to financing, insuring, repairs and maintenance.
As of Wednesday, July 3, the company is still working to get all impacted dealers back online. Complicating the initial attack were reports of a ransom from a criminal hacking group, though CDK has not publicly confirmed the existence of the multi-million dollar demand.
Here’s a timeline of the events that brought thousands of dealers to their knees and forced them back to old-school paper bookkeeping.
USA TODAY has reached out to CDK Global for comment.
June 19
A cyberattack on CDK Global prompts the software company to announce a shutdown of most of its systems “out of an abundance of caution.”
CDK restored some systems that afternoon, but another cyberattack later that evening prompted the company to take the systems offline once again, USA TODAY previously reported.
While the company did not respond to questions about how many dealerships were impacted, CDK’s website says the company works with more than 15,000 retail locations across North America.
