The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) released a statement on April 20 claiming that their National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners (NRCME) website was a victim of an attempted cyber-security breach.
Luckily, FMCSA emphatically stated that no personal information or any database was exposed by the hackers. There are several key features that are available on the National Registry website currently. As of 6th April, 2018, many healthcare professionals that are looking to become a certified medical examiner listed on the National Registry are now able to register.
FMCSA also released a static look-up previously that will allow both State Driver’s Licensing Agencies (SDLA) and their employees to check the validity of their medical cards. In February 2018, FMCSA also corrected inaccurate email notifications that were sent to a few medical examiners incorrectly and stated that they would be removed based on out-of-date information.
There was also a hacking attempt earlier in March when an unauthorized party gained access to the agency’s NRCME however still no personal data was exposed back then. The agency claimed to Overdrive “There was an attempt by someone to compromise the registry, but it was unsuccessful.”
Collin Mooney, the executive director of Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance said in late January that this outage will not cause any issue during roadside inspection, “The drivers are still required to take the medical certificate to the state and the state updates the CDL. Medicals are still able to be verified at roadside through CDLIS, not the national registry.”
There are more than 58,000 certified medical examiners on the National Registry that can perform medical exams on bus drivers and commercial trucks. These medical examiners should segregate all completed examinations while the functionality is offline and upload them on the system when it becomes available again.
FMCSA will continue to address these issues as the website is brought online again.