Car dealerships hit by major computer system outage

CDK Global, a company that provides management software for nearly 15,000 auto dealerships in North America, is down for a second day after a cyber attack, according to a report of Automotive News. The outage left car dealerships across North America unable to access internal systems used to track car sales, view customer information, schedule maintenance and more.

On Wednesday, CDK told utilities it is “investigating a cyber incident” and “proactively shutting down all systems” while it addresses the issue. However, CDK restored its systems shortly after, only to shut them down hours later due to “an additional cyber incident.”

Many car dealerships had to revert to pen and paper while CDK software was down. Teddy Morse, CEO of Ed Morse Automotive Group, tells Automotive News that the dealer “can still take a piece of paper and take it to the technician to do the work.”

CDK has not yet provided any information about the cyber incident that caused the attack – or who is behind it. In a statement provided to On the edgeCDK spokeswoman Lisa Finney says the company “will remain vigilant in our efforts to restore our services and get our dealers back to business as usual as quickly as possible.”

There is no information yet on when CDK will restore its service. In a message to dealers obtained by Automotive NewsCDK says the outage will likely last “several days.”

Update, June 20: Added a statement from a CDK Global spokesperson.