Car Dealerships Nationwide Hit by Massive Cyberattack—Hackers Demand Multimillion-Dollar Ransom. ... has had its operations disrupted. Sonic’s dealerships have reopened with a workaround.

CDK is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider whose platform is used by car dealerships to run all aspects of its operation, including sales, financing, inventory, service, and back office functions.

As the entire process for purchasing a car, including inventory, vehicle registration, and financing, is handled by CDK's platform, dealerships cannot conduct sales or are forced to manual processes.