Transcript of Cyber attacks stall business at car dealerships nationwide

If you're trying to buy or service a car, tonight you might have to pump the brakes because of cyberattacks potentially slowing down business at thousands of car dealers.

Address, vehicle price, customer name, that stuff, like titling information. Obviously, you got to make sure your date of birth, full name are correct.

At Zott Toyota in Waterford, Michigan, Eric Schlensky says normally software from CDK Global helps with that information.

It is what we run all the car deals out of, all the repair orders for service, all the parts orders.

In Austin town, Ohio, Justin Bradley says his team at Jim Shorkey Auto Group has been using a typewriter.

We are hand-doing contracts and hand-doing paperwork.

That means it's been taking longer for customers to buy a car. The challenge is arising after software provider, CDK Global, said it experienced two cyber incidents this week and proactively shut down most of our systems. Today, the company adding, We have begun the restoration process. We anticipate state that the process will take several days to complete. Cdk says it works with more than 15,000 retail locations in North America. It's not clear how many dealerships are impacted, but cybersecurity expert Katie Brooks says these challenges reach beyond the auto industry.

This incident is part of a growing trend of cyber attacks towards small and medium-sized businesses across the country. It is very much a crime of opportunity and a crime of financial gain. If there is money involved, there is the chance that this could happen.

Brooks says it's too soon to know the impact on things like personal data, as the auto industry tonight navigates a bumpy road. Jesse Kirsch, NBC News.

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