Car sales at Sonic Automotive decrease due to significant effects from the CDK cyberattack
In June 2024, a cyberattack on CDK Global caused widespread disruption to thousands of car dealerships across North America, including major dealers such as Sonic Automotive, Penske Automotive Group, AutoNation, Group 1 Automotive, and Lithia Motors. The attack led to significant financial losses for dealerships, estimated at around $605 million in the first two weeks, and caused shares of affected automakers to drop by up to 4.4% at the time.
By early July 2024, CDK Global had largely restored its services after paying a $25 million ransom to the BlackSuit ransomware group. As of mid-2025, there have been no reports of additional or ongoing impacts from this specific CDK Global attack on the car dealerships mentioned. The ransomware group BlackSuit, responsible for the 2024 attack, had its dark web infrastructure seized by international law enforcement in July 2025, which likely disrupted its operations and reduced future risk from that group.
Sonic Automotive, one of the affected dealerships, has experienced a decline in car sales due to the cyberattack on its software services provider, CDK Global. The company's customer relationship management platform and certain functions of the dealer management system remain offline, along with some third-party applications typically accessible through the affected systems.
CDK Global's recovery will occur in phases, with some integrations with original equipment manufacturers and third-party vendors potentially facing delays. As of Monday, Sonic is the only company among the group to have filed an update, with CDK Global not providing a timeline for when it expects to bring other critical services online. The timing of the restoration of full access to all affected systems remains unclear.
Despite the challenges, CDK Global's dealer management system's basic functionality has been restored. CDK Global has previously declined to answer questions about the nature of the attack and was not immediately available to comment. No recent updates indicate renewed disruption to Sonic Automotive, Penske Automotive Group, AutoNation, Group 1 Automotive, or Lithia Motors due to the 2024 incident or related attacks.
- The cyberattack on CDK Global, a software services provider in the cybersecurity industry, has negatively impacted the finance sector, particularly the car dealerships such as Sonic Automotive, where the disruption led to reduced car sales and offline customer relationship management platforms.
- In the technology sphere, CDK Global is expected to face delays in integrations with original equipment manufacturers and third-party vendors due to their cybersecurity incident in 2024, with the recovery process taking place in phases.
