Online registration: Setback due to security vulnerabilities

After recent cyberattacks have paralyzed many registration offices and they stumbled over deficiencies in the implementation of the digital vehicle registration i-Kfz, further trouble is now looming: According to Premiumzulasser, a service provider for vehicle registration, the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) is expected to block the online access of 284 out of 415 registration offices nationwide by the end of the year because their systems do not meet the minimum security standards.

"In practice, this means that almost 70 percent of all authorities can only accept and process new registrations, transfers of ownership, de-registrations, and other orders in paper form as before," says Florian Cichon, Chairman of the Board of Kölner Premiumzulasser.

The consequence: the often annoying trip to the office is once again necessary, which the digitalization of the registration system was supposed to make obsolete.

According to Cichon, not only is access to the newly established major customer interface for commercial users such as car dealerships and registration service providers being blocked, but also access to the local portals of the registration offices, through which private customers can register new vehicles.

"In offline mode, order processing will take significantly longer than online. Car dealerships, registration service providers, and other market participants will not be pleased about this," predicts Cichon.