From Monday there will be digital vaccination certificates again in pharmacies
Digital vaccination certificates can be created using QR codes. (Photo: Ralf Liebhold / Shutterstock)
After a security breach stopped the exhibitions last week, things should go on again soon. Security experts remain skeptical.
If you want to receive a digital vaccination certificate via the Corona-Warn-App or Covpass, you can do so again from participating pharmacies from next Monday. The Federal Ministry of Health informed the German Press Agency on Friday that pharmacies would gradually get access to the portal of the German Pharmacists’ Association (DAV) again in the next week and thus be able to issue vaccination certificates again.
On Wednesday afternoon, access to the portal was unceremoniously blocked after two security researchers found a security hole. They had succeeded in registering a bogus pharmacy via a guest account with the help of forged documents, which then issued two vaccination certificates. The experts then informed the DAV, which initially shut down the system completely.
According to the Ministry of Health, only the few hundred pharmacies that are not members of the DAV were affected by the security gap. “All granted accesses are already checked and verified,” it says. Apparently only the DAV members get access on Monday, while the guest access is initially restricted. It is not known to what extent the system was additionally secured. The association apparently does not see any elementary security gaps, but declares that it has been the victim of “professionally forged documents”.
Security experts remain skeptical. The online magazine watson.ch had previously reported, just like on the Internet traded with German vaccination certificates will – it should cost between 150 and 300 euros. “The digital certificates were presumably generated by improper access to a corresponding IT system of the German Pharmacy Association,” write the authors. The DAV, on the other hand, said last week that there was “no evidence that vaccination certificates could have been issued in German pharmacies without the corresponding legal basis.” Even after the latest findings, the association believes that only the two falsified certificates are in circulation.
