AutoNation: CDK Hack Will Hurt Earnings

The impact of the hack on car dealership software firm CDK Global continues to reverberate.

AutoNation, one of the largest dealership chains in the country, warned on Monday (July 15) that the cyberattack will impact its second quarter earnings by $1.50 per share. The company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that while some systems have been restored, it is still dealing with the fallout of the hack.

“Certain ancillary systems and integrations, such as those that help automate ordering, scheduling, payment, and reporting processes, remain unavailable or limited, and efforts remain ongoing to restore these,” the filing said.

“We expect to complete the restoration of all such systems and integrations prior to the end of July 2024. The unavailability or limited availability of these ancillary systems and integrations has not had, and is not expected to have, a material impact on our business,” it added.

CDK’s dealership management system is a hub for carseller’s day-to-day business operations. The company’s was knocked offline in mid-June by a pair of cyberattacks that affected roughly some 15,000 car dealerships that use its software.

The hack left dealerships resorting to working with pens and paper, unable to conduct credit checks, generate auto loans, complete sales contracts, track their inventory or carry out other sales processes digitally.

CDK said earlier this month that it had nearly all of its systems back online, and expected to be fully restored by July 4. The hackers who struck the company are believed to be linked to a Russia-backed group that has been tied to 96 extortion attempts since May of last year and has likely carried out dozens more.

It’s all part of what PYMNTS has called the “year of the cyberattack,” with new hacks emerging every week, including one on July 8 in which hackers gained unauthorized access to dozens of HubSpot accounts.

Days later, AT&T announced that the call and text records of “nearly all” of its customers were taken in April when a fraudster accessed an AT&T workspace on a third-party cloud platform and stole the files.

“This heightened emphasis on cybersecurity coincides with a broader debate surrounding data security in the connected economy, particularly in connected workplaces and smart homes, where the growing use of connected devices highlights new vulnerabilities, given the vast amounts of personal data they gather,” PYMNYS wrote earlier this month.

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