Chicago, Illinois – Car dealerships in Illinois left in a bind due to cyberattacks on CDK Global in June may see some relief this week. The company aims to restore dealers’ systems online by July 4th, allowing them to resume operations after being hampered by outages.
Lisa Finney, a CDK Global spokesperson, mentioned that they are gradually working on bringing dealers back online on the Dealer Management System (DMS). They anticipate all dealers’ connections to be up and running by late Wednesday, July 3, or early Thursday, July 4. Customer Care channels have also been reinstated for assistance.
CDK Global, a provider of software to nearly 15,000 car dealerships, faced cyberattacks on June 19th and 20th, prompting them to take preemptive measures by shutting down their systems. This led to some dealerships resorting to manual methods like pen and paper for tasks such as tracking car sales and scheduling maintenance.
The company has successfully reactivated “two small groups of dealers” and a “large publicly traded dealer group” on its DMS, as per a statement provided to CBS MoneyWatch. This step marks progress in restoring services for the affected car dealerships in Illinois and beyond.
The cyberattacks had initially caused disruptions for car dealers relying on CDK Global’s software. By regaining access to the DMS, dealers can resume their operations more efficiently, moving away from the challenges imposed by the outages.
With the restoration process in motion and more dealers expected to come back online soon, there is hope for a smoother operation for car dealerships in Illinois following the security breaches faced by CDK Global. The incident serves as a reminder of the importance of cybersecurity in the digital age, especially for companies providing critical services to various industries.