RMV vendor fails to fix outage

For the second straight day, vehicle inspections came to a halt Thursday due to a problem with a Registry of Motor Vehicles vendor, a registry spokeswoman said.

The vendor, Applus Technologies Inc., of Shrewsbury, has a “nationwide issue,” Jacquelyn Goddard said in a tweet. The registry has told police to “show discretion” with expired inspection stickers, she said.

The registry first announced that there would

Vehicle inspections were on hold again Thursday due to a ‘nationwide issue’ with an RMV vendor.

be no vehicle inspections on Wednesday.

“The RMV continues to urge its vendor, Applus Technologies, to provide a

timeline to resolution and confirmation of the extent of this nationwide system outage impacting citizens in need of a vehicle inspection and the small businesses who run inspection stations in Massachusetts,” MassDOT said in a statement. “Recognizing the inconvenience Applus’ outage is causing, the RMV has been in communication with law enforcement to request cooperation and discretion in citing those with an expired sticker who may have attempted to visit a station this week.”

Applus said in a statement that it detected and stopped a malware attack, which has temporarily interrupted the process of conducting vehicle inspections in Massachusetts and other locations. The restoration involved will take some time to fully restore the functionality of vehicle inspections, the company said, but it did not say how long the process could take. “Unfortunately, incidents such as this are fairly common, and no one is immune,” said Applus CEO Darrin Greene. “We apologize for any inconvenience this incident may cause. We know our customers and many vehicle owners rely on our technology, and we are committed to restoring normal operations as quickly as possible.”

MassDOT authorized a 5-year, $30 million contract with Applus, from Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2022, for a minimum of 4.4 million inspections.

For updates, visit http:// mavehiclecheck.com.