Back in late June, CDK Global – which serves roughly 15,000 automotive dealerships in the U.S. – shut down most of its systems following a cyberattack that occurred early one morning, though it was promptly hit with another attack just a few days later. It took some time to sort that problem out after a group of hackers in Eastern Europe demanded a hefty ransom in exchange for halting its attacks, and CDK’s systems just came back online earlier this month, a bit later than originally expected. Now, it seems as if Ford dealers will be compensated for their troubles that stemmed from this issue.
According to Automotive News, CDK Global CEO Brian MacDonald has promised that the company’s customers – which include a number of Ford dealers – will receive financial compensation soon. “We recognize the events have been challenging, and we will provide you with some financial relief,” MacDonald said in a letter set to go out to customers soon. He didn’t provide any specifics as to what that financial compensation may look like, only adding “your CDK Customer Engagement Team will share further details.”
“For the industry, we are offering to any dealer – regardless of whether or not they are a CDK customer – a free tool to conduct training to better prepare for potential cyber incidents and to help dealership employees avoid common pitfalls,” MacDonald stated in the letter, thanking dealers for their “patience and partnership through the restoration process.” He also noted that CDK has “taken steps to secure our environment and we will continue to work with top third-party security experts to constantly evolve our approach.”
As Ford Authority previously reported, this cyberattack impacted a number of Ford dealers, many of whom weren’t able to complete the sales process for vehicles until those systems came back online. That includes Village Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, which sold around 100 vehicles in one week following the attack, though those transactions were in limbo for weeks since CDK generates the paperwork needed to pass them on to the new owners.
We’ll have more on the fallout from this cyberattack soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
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