(The Times of Israel) As Israel begins to reopen gyms, hotels, and other venues starting next week, and require those who want to make use of them to show proof that they have been vaccinated against, or have recovered from, COVID-19, many were skeptical of the security of the documentation that shows their status, the so-called “green pass.”
“It is easy with a graphics program to change the text on the pass, but the QR code is what looks scary and hard to forge, no? Actually, this is very easy,” Ran Bar-Zik, an expert on cybersecurity, wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Bar-Zik explained that the QR code on the Health Ministry “green pass” has no encryption, and corresponds directly to a string of text, with the holder’s personal information, including name, ID number, and date of vaccination, identical to the text printed on the pass itself.