June 20th – CDK Global, an American car dealership software provisioner that serves 15,000 dealerships across the Untied States, has experience back-to-back cyber attacks that required taking systems offline.
The dealerships that the company serves were also negatively affected.
Business impact
In Manhattan, the CDK Global cyber disruption forced a BMW store to announce that all new business – such as car servicing and appointment scheduling – would be on-pause until the software supplier’s issue was resolved.
In Philadelphia, a dealership spoke to the media about being unable to access customer records and unable to print out repair orders.
These examples provide a window into the type of business disruptions playing out across the country on account of the CDK Global attacks.
What’s next
CDK Global is currently evaluating the impact of the attack and consulting with cyber security experts around next steps. “We are continuing to conduct extensive tests on all other applications, and we will provide updates as we bring those applications back online,” said CDK spokesperson, Lisa Finney.
Exactly when systems will be brought back online remains unknown. Customers have been formally notified of the situation.
Growing threat
Cyber crime represents a growing threat for car dealerships. Of 175 car dealerships surveyed, 17% noted that they have experienced a cyber incident in the past year – an increase of 15% over the prior year. Of that group, nearly half reported that the cyber attack led to negative financial repercussions or had a negative impact on operations.
Car dealerships and car dealership suppliers are prime cyber crime targets because they maintain extensive data on customers – data that can be sold online for a profit, used to fake identification papers, and used to extort people. At present, many dealerships still lack adequate cyber security protections.
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