Telematics infrastructure: the switch from RSA to ECC

Everything that runs via the telematics infrastructure (TI) is encrypted. The method used for this has been changed: from RSA to ECC, encryption based on elliptic curves. This is due to requirements set by the Federal Office for Information Security and the Federal Network Agency.

The advantage of ECC lies in the ratio of effort to protection: it achieves a higher level of security than RSA with significantly shorter keys, while placing less strain on devices. The switch was scheduled for the turn of the year 2025/2026.

What this means for your practice

This affects not only software but the TI components themselves: the connector, card terminals and the cards. Whether everything has been switched over at your practice depends on the age of the devices and the status of updates.

The tricky part is this: a missing switch-over usually does not become apparent straight away. It only shows up once a TI application suddenly stops working — in the worst case, with a patient in the treatment room. This is why it is worth checking before things get to that point.

If you are not sure whether your components have been switched to ECC: we will take a look. This is part of our practice IT support.

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• More on practice IT: IT security in the practice