CDK Global Cyberattack Disrupts Thousands of Car Dealerships

A cyberattack on CDK Global knocked key dealership management systems offline and disrupted operations at thousands of auto dealerships across the United States. Dealers reported being unable to access core functions for sales, financing, service, and vehicle records, forcing many to switch to manual paperwork and delaying transactions. After suffering two related intrusions, CDK also warned customers that threat actors were attempting social-engineering attacks against dealerships during the outage, raising concerns that criminals were exploiting the disruption to gain further access or steal information.

The outage quickly translated into major financial damage across the automotive retail sector. Industry estimates cited losses that could approach $1 billion, reflecting stalled vehicle sales, service delays, and operational backlogs. Separate reporting later said CDK Global was believed to have paid roughly $25 million in ransom to the attackers as the company worked to restore systems and stabilize customer operations, underscoring the scale of the incident and its downstream impact on the dealership ecosystem.