Following the “unauthorized access” of the NRCME website, which is used by truck drivers to search for certified medical examiners, the FMCSA has confirmed that no private info on drivers was exposed.
However, the full registry still remains offline, and the FMCSA has no timeline right now when the website will be back up again.
Despite the registry being “currently under construction,” however, site visitors can still do a zip code search or look up a Medical Examiner’s National Registry Number.
Drivers use the registry to search for a DOT-certified medical examiner when securing or renewing a medical examination certificate.
To recap, in a statement sent to CCJ in early January, the FMCSA said, “There was an attempt by someone to compromise the (registry), but it was unsuccessful.”
The FMCSA also said that there was no indication that the personal information of drivers, medical examiners, and motor carrier operators have been exposed. The agency, however, did not say when the registry would be fully accessible again.
The FMCSA advised test centers “to hold all the test results that need to be transmitted until the system is once again operational.”
The CVSA’s Executive Director Collin Mooney said that the registry’s hacking does not affect data reliability during roadside inspections.
Mooney also told that drivers “still need to take the medical certification to the state and the state updates the CDL. Medicals are still able to be verified at roadside through CDLIS, not the national registry.”
A driver must keep his or her medical examination certificate handy for roadside inspections. Now that full enforcement of the FMCSA’s ELD rule has begun, it is crucial that drivers have everything they need to be 100% compliant.
