11:54 am, June 24, 2024
Group 1 Automotive today said last week’s double cyber-attack on software provider CDK Global had caused widespread disruption across its US operations.
On Friday, Car Dealer told how dealerships in the USA and Canada had had to revert to using pen and paper to process sales and repairs after CDK was targeted by cyber-criminals, knocking out dealer management systems.
It was subsequently revealed that CDK was going to give in to the ransom demands of the hackers, who are believed to be based in eastern Europe, and pay up tens of millions of dollars.
Yesterday, Reuters reported that CDK had begun restoring the systems that it had earlier been forced to take offline.
The software is used by some 15,000 car dealers in North America, and now Group 1 Automotive – which has 202 dealerships across the pond and in the UK – says the security incident disrupted business applications and processes in its US operations that rely on CDK’s dealer systems.
Group 1’s UK operations don’t use the CDK Global platform, so they haven’t been affected.
In a statement issued this morning, the Fortune 300 automotive retailer said it immediately activated its cyber-incident response procedures following the incident and took measures to protect and isolate its systems from CDK’s platform.
Group 1 added: ‘Despite the CDK service outage, all Group 1 US dealerships continue to conduct business using alternative processes until CDK’s dealers’ systems are available.’
Daryl Kenningham, Group 1’s president and chief executive, said: ‘Our associates are coming together with an unwavering focus on delivering the best possible customer experience.
‘Their efforts have been nothing short of exemplary. We’d like to thank our team, our customers and our partners for their patience as we navigate this outage.’
According to CDK, it’ll take days, not weeks, to fully restore dealer management systems.
Group 1 said the timing of the restoration of other CDK applications that had been affected was still unclear.
It stated: ‘Group 1’s ability to determine the material impact, if any, of the CDK incident and the resulting service outage, will ultimately depend on a number of factors, including when, and to what extent, the company resumes its access to CDK’s dealers’ systems.
‘Group 1 is closely monitoring this situation and will take additional action if determined necessary.’
Stock picture used for illustrative purposes (Credit: Tim Goode/PA Wire/PA Images)
