Car shoppers could see almost normal conditions at most car dealerships this July 4 weekend. A cyberattack that slowed sales and service at car dealerships nationwide is mostly over.
CDK Global, which supplies software to about 15,000 car dealerships, suffered a crippling cyberattack that lasted more than two weeks. The company now says it has restored services, with “substantially all” of its customers back online today.
The Backbone of a Dealership
Dealership management system (DMS) software manages most of what a dealership does.
Service departments use it to schedule appointments and track and order parts for repairs. Without it, getting your car serviced takes longer.
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Sales departments use it to track inventory, qualify buyers for loans, and accept payments. Without it, buying a car takes longer.
Dealerships even use the software to manage their payroll.
Many dealerships have been left without it for the last two weeks. CDK suffered a ransomware attack in mid-June that took its services offline.
Companies rarely disclose information about ransomware attacks. CDK is no exception – the company has not publicly disclosed how it resolved the attack.
In a ransomware attack, hackers encrypt a company’s systems and demand payment to give the company access to what it built. Multiple reports from cybersecurity news sources indicate that CDK paid a ransom to restore its services.
Just In Time
CDK had announced hopes to bring most customers back online for the holiday weekend – traditionally a busy time for car sales. A recording on the company’s customer service line now says, “We are happy to report that we are ahead of the anticipated schedule.”
That’s great news for car shoppers, as things could be nearly normal tomorrow.
However, dealership employees still face a daunting recovery.
During the shutdown, many returned to old-fashioned pen-and-paper transactions. They must now input everything they did over the last two weeks into the software.
Todd Szott, dealer partner at Szott Auto Group in metro Detroit and president of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, told Automotive News, “It’s going to take us a little bit, a week or two to get all these transactions in and get these integrations up before we’re totally back to normal, but we’re on that path.”
