CDK's DMS Software is In Its Third Day of Downtime Following Cyber Attacks
While it might seem like some car dealers’ technology situations are complete messes, there are some pretty robust processes happening on the backside of their websites and “contact us” forms. CDK Global is a major provider of Dealer Management System (DMS) software, and the company recently experienced significant cyberattacks that will leave its software out of service for several days.
CDK sent a note to its dealer customers that said: “If you are not aware, we experienced an additional cyber incident late in the evening on June 19. We continue to act out of caution, and to protect our customers, we have taken down most of our systems. Do not attempt to access the DMS until we can confirm the system is secure.”
The company went on to say that its phones and retail software continue to be operational but warned that it does not have a timeline for a resolution to its DMS problems, though it’s worth noting that today is the third day of the outage. Dealers may still be able to complete hand-written transactions, but the automated customer intake and response functions will be out until the company develops a fix.
CDK services more than 15,000 dealer retail locations in North America, making this downtime a significant issue for car buyers, dealers, and automakers. The problem could impact thousands of retail vehicle transactions every day until it’s fixed, and it comes during the vital summer sales season, which is typically a good opportunity for dealers to unload inventory before new model-year vehicles arrive.
[Images: James R. Martin, Artistic Operations, and refrina via Shutterstock]
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Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.
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My son was test-driving a car last week and the dealer basically told him they were unable to sell him anything because of this problem.
The sales people were pretty glum.
To make matters worse, the car ran out of gas on the test drive.
In a separate matter (I think), the PennDOT system was also down, so he was unable to sell a car to a friend.
"the PennDOT system was also down,"
I imagine It goes down in days ending in "y".
They titled my 2004 Volvo as a 1904 Volvo a few years ago causing quite a kerfuffle. How does that even happen?