The street parking operator Poytaxt Parking has released an updated version of its mobile application to increase the security when linking vehicles to user accounts, according to the company's press service.
New verification mechanism
Users must now provide not only the vehicle's registration number but also its registration certificate number when adding a vehicle to the application. The system automatically verifies the consistency of this information.
The company stated that this new mechanism makes it impossible to link someone else's car using only its registration number.
Requirements for existing users
Users who added cars before the update should remove them from their accounts and repeat the linking process, making sure to specify the registration certificate number. Until this process is completed, information about parking violations, including photos, addresses, and parking zone details, will be hidden both in the application and in push notifications.
If a user attempts to pay a parking fine, the application will request the registration certificate number. Access to violation details and payment options will only be possible after the system confirms that the vehicle belongs to the account owner.
Exceptions and previous events
Poytaxt Parking clarified that prepaid parking sessions will continue to work as usual, without requiring a registration certificate number, since information about such sessions is available only to the initiator. Last week, the company announced plans to change the vehicle linking mechanism to prevent unauthorized access to parking data, while temporarily disabling the ability to add vehicles via a photo from a notification.
These changes followed reports of insufficient personal data protection. Previously, blogger Shukhratbek Kurbanov pointed out that users could add any vehicle to the service using only its registration number and gain access to the history of unpaid parking sessions, including photos and vehicle location details.