Canada, U.S. car dealerships to be back online this week after cyberattacks
Software provider CDK Global says all dealerships should be back online by late Wednesday or early Thursday after back-to-back cyberattacks left hundreds of auto dealerships in Canada and thousands more in the U.S. forced to use pen and paper to conduct business.
CDK Global said the dealers were brought back on board its system, which had been affected by the cyberattack.
“We are continuing our phased approach to the restoration process and are rapidly bringing dealers live on the Dealer Management System,” external communications senior manager Lisa Finney wrote in an update on Monday.
Finney added that other applications, including customer care channels, had been restored and customers could call, chat or submit eCases if assistance was needed.
Two weeks ago, back-to-back cyberattacks hit the company, which provides software to thousands of dealerships across North America.
Last Monday, Tim Reuss, Canadian Automobile Dealers Association president and CEO, told Global News that hundreds of Canadian dealers were impacted.
Stellantis and Ford confirmed to Global News that dealers of their vehicles were among those down as a result of the system outage, the former noting its dealerships were resorting to pen and paper to complete deals and other processes.
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Group 1 Automotive, which owns and operates 202 auto dealerships, 264 franchises and 32 collision centres in the U.S. and U.K., said in a news release on Monday that its business applications and processes at its American operations were impacted.
More than 15,000 retail locations are serviced by CDK Global in North America.
The hack came as U.S. new-vehicle sales growth slowed for the second quarter, with General Motors reporting just a 0.6 per cent rise compared with 19 per cent last year. Reuters reported the company said some sales tallies would shift to the current quarter due to the hack.
Toyota Motor North America also saw a slowdown, with a nine per cent rise in sales compared with last year’s jump of 20 per cent.
Though restoration is underway, some cybersecurity experts have cautioned that consumers connected to CDK should assume their data may have been breached and to monitor credit and be wary of phishing campaigns.
— with files from The Associated Press and Reuters