SHREWSBURY, Mass., April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Applus Technologies, Inc., provides the following update on the status of restoring full operations for the Massachusetts Vehicle Check program.
On Tuesday, March 30, 2021, Applus detected and stopped a malware attack which has temporarily interrupted the process of conducting vehicle inspections in Massachusetts and other locations. Our first step was to contain the problem by locking down the entire system as soon as the issue was detected.
We quickly notified our program customers at the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In addition, we notified the station owners, managers and inspectors who perform the vehicle inspections. Our technical team then began immediately working around the clock to resolve this issue in order to restore the program to full operations.
“We truly understand the inconvenience this has caused our agency customers, inspection stations, inspectors and motorists,” said Darrin Greene, CEO, Applus Technologies, Inc., USA. “We take very seriously our responsibility to provide the highest quality, most reliable vehicle inspection and emissions testing services to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and pledge to have service restored as quickly as possible.”
The MA Vehicle Check program is one of the most innovative and technologically advanced vehicle inspection programs in the country. Due to the sophisticated technology and programming required to operate the program, it is imperative that we ensure every component of the program is free from malware, thoroughly tested and operating normally before bringing the program back online. The testing process will involve all of our agencies as well as the station owners who own and operate the computerized workstation equipment used to perform the motor vehicle inspections.
At this time, we anticipate the program will be back online next week at the earliest. We will routinely update the return to service status as additional information becomes available. It is important to note that we want to make sure we have resolved all issues before restarting the system in order to avoid any additional delays or inconvenience once the program is back up and running.
“The Applus team continues to be in constant, often real-time contact, with the state agencies involved, and are providing frequent updates to inspection station owners/managers and inspectors, as well as motorists, throughout the day via email, website updates and through our customer service call center,” said Greene.
Applus is also working with the agencies to conduct virtual meetings on Friday April 2nd for station owners and managers in order to provide updates and address questions and concerns.
To mitigate the impact on the community, Applus is working closely with the RMV which has reached out to law enforcement to ask for consideration for expired stickers to ensure motorists don’t face fines or penalties as a result of the system being down. In addition, the 60-day retest requirement and free retest will be extended during this time.
Applus and the RMV continue to provide the following services – business as usual – for stations and inspectors:
- All scheduled and future trainings will continue as schedule.
- New and renewed Inspector licenses will continue to be processed.
- Station license renewals will continue to be processed.
Additional information and updates will be posted to www.MAvehiclecheck.com.
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SOURCE Applus Technologies, Inc.
