A Cyberattack has brought a systems outage for CDK Global, which provides software solutions for thousands of dealerships across North America. It’s rained havoc on the industry on dealers are racking up financial losses from not being able to perform a variety of business functions.
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Dealerships use CDK Global’s software to keep records and schedule appointments with customers. That means orders, sales, and even the ability to track interactions with customers are all just gone.
Some dealers have been using handwritten notes while the software isn’t available.
Reportedly, the group which performed the attack has demanded tens of millions of dollars in ransom.
It’s amazing how one cyberattack can create so much chaos. When pretty much everyone in an industry relies on a software solution and that’s the target of an attack, the results can be devastating.
CNN cites Anderson Economic Group’s estimate that this cyberattack could end up costing $944 million in direct losses for dealerships if this stretches out to a full three weeks. Nobody seems to know how long the outages will actually last.
CDK did say before that the issue would take until sometime in July to resolve, although it didn’t specify when. However, on Friday CDK said it’s making progress with returning some dealerships to full functionality.
Even better, CBS reports now that CDK claims all dealers will have access to the software platform by July 4. We hope that’s the case since every day means mounting financial losses.
Even though the outage has been only going on since June 26, the fear of what might happen if it’s not resolved soon can be felt all over. Employees are worrying their pay will be negatively impacted and owners surely are anxiously watching their bottom line.
Hopefully CDK’s latest statement about full restoration of services this week turns out to be accurate. Car dealerships affect other parts of the economy, so this outage could have a bad ripple effect if it isn’t resolved soon.
Image via CBS News/YouTube
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