US car dealerships face ongoing outage after CDK cyberattacks

Auto retailers and car dealerships across the U.S. are facing another day of outages after a second cyberattack hit tech company CDK Global, which develops software used for managing auto customers and their vehicles.

In a message from CDK sent to customers Thursday, the company said the additional cyberattack late Wednesday may result in extended outages.

“At this time, we do not have an estimated time frame for resolution and therefore our dealers’ systems will not be available at a minimum on Thursday,” the message read. 

CDK said that its customer support teams “remain unavailable” as a precautionary measure to maintain security. 

The company’s website says its software runs in about 15,000 dealerships.

News of the cyberattack broke early Wednesday as car dealerships reported outages with their CDK-run dealer management systems, which allow dealers to handle customer appointments, vehicle records, and other information Several CDK customers took to social media and Reddit saying the outages forced staff to find workarounds that do not rely on the downed software. 

CDK did not describe the nature of the initial cyberattack, but said that CDK shut all of its systems down on Wednesday. Some CDK functions began to return on Wednesday afternoon, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the ongoing cyberattack. It’s not clear if, or how, the second cyberattack is related to the first. 

It’s not yet clear if the company has the ability to determine what customer data, if any, was stolen from its systems.

Lisa Finney, a spokesperson for CDK, did not immediately comment when reached Thursday morning.