Impact of Digital Vehicle Identification Errors on Critical Information Systems

Abstract

In commercial, technical, administrative, record-keeping and forensic practice, unambiguous, unique identification of all objects with which we work is important. Vehicles are identified using a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), which is a key identifier in everyday practice. This identifier is inserted into information systems in different ways. Manual copying from paper documents to record systems prevails. In practice, however, it turns out that this method has an average error rate of up to 8%. In recent years, the digital VIN, which is physically stored in the vehicle in its electronic control units, has started to be used for vehicle identification. The contribution deals with the description and evaluation of various ways of VIN entries in information systems, especially critical infrastructure, and analyzes their shortcomings and benefits. In the article, a thorough analysis of frequent errors in VIN is carried out and ways to eliminate them are suggested.