Software maker CDK says it will take “several days” to get its systems back online following back-to-back cyberattacks, as auto dealerships and shops across the United States that rely on the company's software enter a second week of outage. .
In a statement, CDK spokesperson Lisa Finney confirmed that the company has “begun the process of restoring” its systems and that it “continues to actively engage with our customers and provide them with alternative ways of conducting business.”
No specific timeline was given for recovery. A prerecorded phone message to CDK customers heard by TechCrunch on Monday said the company “will share the schedule once it is confirmed.”
The pre-recorded message read, “Unable to perform DMS integration tasks,” referring to the company's flagship dealer management software, which remains largely inoperable.
CDK, which makes customer management software for auto dealers and auto shops to manage their customer and vehicle records, provides its technologies to about 15,000 dealerships across North America.
The cyber attack supposedly ransomware – began on June 19, causing widespread outages to CDK customer dealerships. CDK confirmed that it experienced an additional cyberattack later in the day that it said would likely result in prolonged outages. It is not clear if or how the second cyberattack was related to the first.
According to Bloomberg citing a person familiar with the incident, the hackers demand the company pays tens of millions of dollars in ransom to recover your systems. It is not yet known whether the company has paid or plans to pay the ransom, and CDK spokesperson Finney declined to say when asked by TechCrunch.
As the work week begins, dealerships across the United States continue to face disruptions. Group 1 Automotive, one of the largest auto dealers in the U.S., said in a Monday filing with government regulators which continued to experience disruptions to its US operations, which rely on CDK software.
Several other companies that rely on CDK software, including Sonic Automotive and Rental giant PenskeThey also reported ongoing disruptions due to the CDK cyberattack at various levels of their businesses.
Sonic said that while the incident was ongoing, it could not yet determine what customer data, if any, was stolen.
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