Last Updated on April 6, 2021
New York’s “Excelsior Pass” vaccine passport program has “massive security flaws,” with user reviews “hammering” the app for its total “dysfunction.”
In his newsletter, “The Dossier,” Jordan Schachtel revealed the total dysfunction of New York’s “Excelsior Pass” vaccine passport system. Built in conjunction with IBM, the Excelsior Pass was based off of the company’s “Digital Health Pass” system, which Schachtel describes as being “incredibly impractical, and incredibly easy to manipulate.”
The system is “incredibly rigid,” he writes, noting that not only does it take two weeks for the system to recognize that you have been fully vaccinated, but that many people who have been vaccinated will not even be on their database to begin with. Anyone who received a vaccine from out of state, or who took a private at home test kit not on the New York central database, will not be on their system, as there is absolutely zero communication with any other database.
READ MORE: POLL: Over 40% of Americans Are Against Vaccine Passports
Security on New York’s vaccine passport app is also “incredibly lax.” All you need to identify somebody’s COVID-19 health records is their name, date of birth, and zip code. Once through that initial stage, you have to enter “more relatively easily obtained information” that then supposedly verifies your identity. All of these questions can be repeated as many times as you want, meaning anyone can brute force their way into your medical history.
User reviews on the iPhone and Android app stores are scathing. Out of 240 current reviews, 100 rated the app 1 out of 5 stars on iOS, with many mentioning the above mentioned flaws, along with reports of multiple error messages, and simply wrong information.
To top it off, people with phones older than 4 or 5 years can’t even use the application at all, with the app only running on the latest operating systems, unavailable on older devices.
National File reported last week that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken a tough stance whereby Florida government agencies are prevented from issuing passports, and Florida businesses prevented from asking for any such paperwork from their customers. Further media reports of similar fight backs in both Texas and Tennessee were over-stated however, with executive orders and planned legislation not affecting private businesses.
