‘Critical infrastructure’: Cyberattack affects Tennessee car dealerships and customer service

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Technology is part of almost every aspect of our daily lives. When a cyber security attack occurs, it can make a significant impact.

Last month, Ascension Hospitals faced a ransomware attack. This month, a software owned by CDK Global came under attack. Thousands of car dealerships and mechanics across the country use this software. As a result, those dealerships can’t access their databases right now. They have had to revert to pen and paper for nearly everything.

One Clarksville car owner told News 2 that this cyber attack affected how he commutes to work.

When Clarksville resident James Cox’s car entered limp mode, he said that he saw various dashboard warning lights Sunday afternoon. He had it towed to a local Hyundai dealership in hopes of a quick repair.

“She said they were experiencing a cyber attack on the software they utilize for parts and their internal systems,” Cox explained.

For Cox, this meant that the parts needed to repair his car could not be checked in inventory or ordered.

According to its website, CDK Global works with more than 15,000 retail locations nationwide. The dealer software does everything from hold records of negotiated deals to scheduling and communicating about services. Following Wednesday’s cyberattack, CDK Global shut down most of its systems “out of an abundance of caution.”

Affected dealerships have returned to the pen-and-paper method.

“I asked her, ‘Hey, do you guys have like a loaner vehicle program?’” Cox said. “‘So I can have a way to get to work and to and from things of that nature.’ She said they do; however, all the loaners are currently out.”

Cox told News 2 that the dealership representative said that loaner vehicles were leased out to other people experiencing the same thing.

“I’m just kind of sitting on my thumb waiting to see what happens,” Cox said.

Cox is driving his friend’s car now.

“Unfortunately, a lot of organizations don’t prepare for it,” Retired FBI Special Agent Scott Augenbaum said. “They don’t know what to do. They haven’t thought about this because one of the things that I deal with all the time, and it’s my first truth to cyber security, nobody expects to be a victim.”

Scott Augenbaum worked with the FBI Cyber Crime Unit for years. He said that cybersecurity hacks and ransomware will become more common as technology becomes a prominent tool. The Identity Theft Resource Center cited a 72 percent increase in data breaches between 2021 and 2023. According to IBM Security, the average global cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million.

“I’m sure they’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re not dealing with pharmaceuticals; we’re not dealing with healthcare,’” Augenbaum explained. “But almost every one of these databases is part of a critical infrastructure.”

Bloomberg reports that an eastern European cybercrime group is claiming to be behind the attack and is allegedly demanding tens of millions of dollars.

“Big companies, big problems,” Augenbaum said. “There are a lot of different systems involved with all of these large organizations, and they have a lot of computers that need to be patched. They need to be updated. A lot of these companies need to invest the money in training.”

For the time being, Augenbaum told News 2 that you can protect yourself from a cyberattack by thinking before you click, freezing impacted credit with credit agencies, using a variety of passwords and using two-factor authentication.

CDK Global has not announced when its software will return to normal.

“I’ve had regular conversations with the dealership, and they’ve been really good about giving me updates,” Cox said. “I’m sure they’re getting tons and tons of phone calls, so props to them for how they’re handling it. But outside of that, everything else is out of our control.”