Gunter heads up product and safety management here. He’ll be happy to help if you have any questions.
We ensure security and data protection
The Deutschlandticket is valid everywhere. Consequently, all systems and ticket-validation devices throughout Germany must be able to check whether the ticket presented is genuine and valid.
When a ticket is checked, there is more going on in the background than simply determining whether it is ‘valid’ or ‘invalid’. Data is exchanged and verified between the ticket validator, the ticket and the back-end system. This happens in fractions of a second, even when numerous checks are taking place simultaneously. The technical infrastructure is designed to carry out these checks quickly and reliably, regardless of whether the ticket is stored on a chip card or on a smartphone.
This data comes from the fare validation system of the relevant transport authority that issues the ticket. For the Deutschland-Ticket, we operate a system to which the sales and validation systems of all transport operators and associations in Germany send their issue and validation records: the Central PV System (ZPVS).
How (((eTicket Deutschland’s security management works
The ZPVS forms part of our security management for digital tickets in public transport: behind all digital tickets, including the Deutschland-Ticket, lies a multi-tiered security concept that we developed in 2006 in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom Security in accordance with the guidelines of the Federal Office for Information Security.
A Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) plays a central role in this. It ensures that tickets can be uniquely verified and cannot be tampered with. Certificates ensure that only authorised systems can issue and validate tickets.
In addition, we operate the central systems for data exchange between transport operators and transport associations. This includes, amongst other things, the routing of data streams as well as tools for key and security management. Whilst the basic principle of encryption is also found in other applications, However, our security management also incorporates a number of project- and sector-specific features, such as the transferability of tickets or regional areas of validity.
This interplay of encryption, certificates and system architecture forms the basis for secure and interoperable ticketing in public transport.