Hackers that crippled car dealerships demand tens of millions in ransom

The group responsible for hacking the system of CDK Global has demanded tens of millions of dollars in ransom as the June 19 attack on the company’s systems continues.

CDK Global provides software to nearly 15,000 car dealerships in the United States, which dealerships rely on for day-to-day processing. This includes stocking vehicles, ordering services or parts, and deliveries. The breach has brought activity at these car dealers to a halt.

“It’s just mass chaos at this point,” Diana Lee, the chief executive officer of auto dealership marketing agency Constellation, said. “The dealer’s required to actually run a DMS for sales, service, parts, for every single functionality — even stocking a vehicle, you can’t do it without the DMS system. So it is a disaster.”

Buying a car is still possible, but with the systems taken offline it will take longer. The dealerships that are experiencing the outage risk alienating customers that can decide to purchase from another dealer that can move faster. This is particularly bad news for dealers that use CDK since after Memorial Day usually sees an uptick in sales.

CDK Global is planning to make the payment, according to Bloomberg. The group responsible is said to be based in eastern Europe.

The company was able to restore access temporarily on June 19, but then a second attack prompted the systems to be shut down again.

Customers were sent a warning Thursday, saying that they may be contacted by third parties who are looking to capitalize on the confusion caused.

“We are aware that bad actors are contacting our customers, posing as members or affiliates of CDK, trying to obtain system access,” the company said. “CDK associates are not contacting customers for access to their environment or systems. Please only respond to known CDK employees and communications.”

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This is the latest in a slate of recent hacks. UnitedHealth Group, which insures 148 million people, had a data breach earlier this year, and paid $22 million in ransom.

The Washington Examiner has reached out to CDK Global for comment.