ther business partners, such as insurance companies, report to the DMV system.
One security point: Only a driver's license number or vehicle-registra
tion number can be used as a lookup key. Another security point: Few DMV business partners interact directly with the DMV's database.
Some use an intermediate computer
containing only pieces of the database. All systems use on-line transaction processing (OLTP) and queuing.
The DMV business partner's application queues a query to the database (e.g., Does this person have auto insurance?). A gateway computer gets the query, closes the queue, and then opens another queue and puts the query there. The DMV database gets the query and returns the answer in the same three steps.
As a result, there is never an open pathway between the business partner's system and the DMV's database. Furthermore, transactions waiting in the queue do not disappear if any one computer happens to go off-line.
New DMV applications undergo extensive testing -- first on an individual unit, then on a closed system, then on an integrated system, and finally in a production environment. New appl
ications are disseminated statewide overnight.
New Internet applications, such as the change-of-address form, present their own challenges. "Nobody talks about the security of a testing environment on the Internet," says Glenn Wilson, chief of the division of EDP services. The DMV's test and integration model won't work for Internet applications, but the DMV sidesteps this with an "Internet" that's completely within the DMV. By mimicking a production environment, it can discover shortcomings or security breaches in the application.
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DMV's Air Bag
