A major car dealership system got hit by cyberattacks

CDK Global has been forced to shut down its dealership management for the second day in a row after being struck by back-to-back cyberattacks.

CDK, which serves almost 15,000 car dealerships across North America, was first hit by an attack early Wednesday morning. That forced it to shut down its systems, which are relied on by dealerships to conduct most of their routine business. Later on Wednesday evening, a second “cyber incident” occurred, according to a message to customers viewed by Automotive News.

“Out of continued caution and to protect our customers, we are once again proactively shutting down most of our systems,” CDK said after notifying customers of the incident, adding that it was assessing the impact and consulting with experts about the situation. CDK said at the time that it did not know when systems would be brought back online.

A representative for the company did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday morning.

CDK provides a number of services to dealerships, including online appointment scheduling, messaging tools, and e-signing, according to its website. In addition to car dealerships, CDK works with more than 1,000 heavy truck locations across the continent.

A BMW store in Manhattan told customers Wednesday that it was forced to pause all new business, such as car servicing or making new appointments, because of the cyber incident, Bloomberg reports. A dealership in Philadelphia told the news outlet that its employees have been left unable to access customer records or even print out a repair order.

The attack on CDK comes after the Findlay Automotive Group was hit by a cybersecurity attack earlier this month. The company has said its locations across five U.S. states were affected by the cybersecurity breach and that, while dealers stayed open, sales and service operations were hindered.