A cyberattack against software provider CDK Global, which serves thousands of car dealerships across the United States, has been followed by a second cyber incident, leading to outages.
A first cyberattack affected the company earlier this week, the company said. However, a second notice sent to customers from CDK signaled that another cyberattack was carried out on June 19.
“Dear Valued Customers, We are sorry to inform you that we experienced an additional cyber incident late in the evening on June 19th,” the company wrote in a message on June 20, which was viewed by The Epoch Times.
“Out of continued caution and to protect our customers, we are once again proactively shutting down most of our systems.”
The firm added in the notice that its computer systems would be down on June 20 and that it doesn’t know when the systems would be brought back online.
“Out of continued caution and to protect our customers, we are once again proactively shutting down most of our systems,” CDK said.
“We are actively investigating a cyber incident,” a CDK spokesperson told multiple news outlets. “Out of an abundance of caution and concern for our customers, we have shut down most of our systems and are working diligently to get everything up and running as quickly as possible.”
CDK Global didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
After the first incident this week, the company said on June 19 that its core dealer management system and digital retailing solutions had been restored. It said it also had tested and consulted with external third-party experts after the incident.
However, that confirmation was issued before the June 20 outage.
“We are aware of a reported CDK outage. We are currently evaluating any impact on our Ford Dealers,” Ford Motor Co. said in a statement this week.
No one has come forward to claim responsibility for the cyberattack. No other details were provided in the message from CDK.
According to the company’s website, CDK Global’s systems are used by more than 15,000 car dealerships across the United States, suggesting that car sales have been disrupted. The software is used by companies to manage sales, customer support, inventory, and other parts of their operations.
U.S. officials have warned that widespread cyberattacks wILL likely become more common in the future, pointing to threats posed mainly by the Chinese Communist Party and affiliated groups.
Chinese hackers are attempting “to find and prepare to destroy or degrade the civilian critical infrastructure that keeps us safe and prosperous,” Mr. Wray told a House Committee in January. “And let’s be clear: Cyber threats to our critical infrastructure represent real-world threats to our physical safety.”
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and White House adviser Jake Sullivan warned that hackers are attempting to target “water and wastewater systems throughout” the country.
Last month, national health system Ascension was targeted in a widespread ransomware attack, the company said. About a week ago, the company said that some of its systems had been restored, more than a month after the attack.
