Netherlands investigates creation of COVID pass with QR code in the name of Adolf Hitler | International | News

The code has been distributed by a cybercriminal to demonstrate that he could create a QR code in the name of anyone.

EFE

October 27, 2021 – 12h16

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The Ministry of Health of the Netherlands is investigating how a cybercriminal has been able to create a “COVID pass” with a valid QR code in the name of Adolf Hitler, which was offered as a fraudulent copy in a trade forum of this digital document that allows access of vaccinated people to restricted places.

The existence of this fake QR code came to light thanks to a journalistic investigation by the Dutch channel RTL Nieuws, which has caused concern among ministry employees, who thought that the “COVID pass” was an extremely secure system.

When scanning the QR code in the official government application, it returned a result in green, which indicates that that person is free of COVID-19, despite the fact that the code used the name of the deceased German dictator and gave his Date of birth as January 1, 1900.

The ministerial investigation is now focused on how a valid QR code was created and what steps should be taken to combat this form of fraud.

The code in the name of Adolf Hitler has been distributed by a cybercriminal in an internet forum to demonstrate his services that he could create a QR code in the name of anyone and valid in all countries of the European Union (EU) by mutual recognition .

RTL contacted the seller and assures that he indicated that he is capable of creating a covid pass to the name and date of birth of his choice for 300 euros, an illegal and punishable trade in the Netherlands.

In addition, he claimed that he can only get QR codes from Poland and France, which could indicate several scenarios, including that an employee of the health boards of those two countries is the one who creates these passes, although the Dutch ministry considers one more option. serious: that the secret keys of the French and Polish QR codes have been stolen.

If this is the case, all COVID passes from those two countries would have to be reissued.

In September, a 20-year-old was arrested in the Netherlands on suspicion of QR code fraud, which also led to the suspension of several employees of the Dutch health boards for their possible involvement in the creation of these codes. (I)

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