Obamacare network vulnerable to cyber attack

[Rogue One]

The Belarusian Connection
Obamacare network vulnerable to cyber attack

U.S. intelligence agencies last week urged the Obama administration to check its new healthcare network for malicious software after learning that developers linked to the Belarus government helped produce the website, raising fresh concerns that private data posted by millions of Americans will be compromised.

The intelligence agencies notified the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency in charge of the Healthcare.gov network, about their concerns last week. Specifically, officials warned that programmers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, were suspected of inserting malicious code that could be used for cyber attacks, according to U.S. officials familiar with the concerns.

The software links the millions of Americans who signed up for Obamacare to the federal government and more than 300 medical institutions and healthcare providers.

“The U.S. Affordable Care Act software was written in part in Belarus by software developers under state control, and that makes the software a potential target for cyber attacks,” one official said.

Cyber security officials said the potential threat to the U.S. healthcare data is compounded by what they said was an Internet data “hijacking” last year involving Belarusian state-controlled networks. The month-long diversion covertly rerouted massive amounts of U.S. Internet traffic to Belarus—a repressive dictatorship located between Russia, Poland, and Ukraine.

The rest of this very lengthy article can be found here: http://freebeacon.com/the-belarusian-connection/

[themadscientist]

Is it it bad that I'm not at all surprised?

[Rogue One]

Is it it bad that I'm not at all surprised?

Nope. How does that old joke go? What's the biggest lie ever told... "I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help."

[MinisterofDOOM]

The specific stated vulnerabilities notwithstanding: EVERY network is vulnerable to "cyber attack." (What a stupid term. It's called "hacking" dammit. The people doing that s*** don't call them selves "cyber attackers" and probably have never actually used the word "cyber" in their life because real life is neither Tron nor the 1980s).

Sorry, but if there's one thing I can't stand, it's newsmedia dumbing s*** down. Happens with automotive news, too. But it's the most frustrating with tech news, where according to most news reporters you'd think it's still 1986 and nobody's ever heard of a "com-pew-tor" or these intertruck things we can all communicate through before.

Rant out of the way:
I find it baffling that any government would willingly outsource ANY networking design. That's critical stuff. You build in-house organizations to design and operate that stuff. You don't ask someone else to do it for you. It's like the old story of the king who hired men to build his secret escape tunnel and then killed them so no one could reveal the secret. You don't just pay some third party to engineer your high-risk infrastructure for you. You do it yourself. You find the people with the skills, you employ them INTERNALLY, and you make sure s*** gets done right.

[nissangirl74]

The problem with that statement is that it MAKES SENSE. The powers that be would veto that in a New York Minute

[BusyBadger]

Sad thing is, the original contractors couldn't get Healthcare.gov to work so new blood was brought in to help, the ones I remember off the top are Google, Oracle and Red Hat.

Sadder is that Oracle was the company responsible for the failed launch of Oregon's ACA. Nice due dilligence there feds.

But hey, Larry Ellison did sponsor the winner of last year's America's Cup. Got to set your priorities I guess.

[audtatious]

Come on BB, the more we spend via the government on this failed initiative the more these companies get paid and help our citizenry.....errr....India.

[WDRacing]

Our Gov = inept/incompetent. I triple dog dare you to argue with me!

[Rogue One]

Our Gov = inept/incompetent. I triple dog dare you to argue with me!

14 Big Government Programs That Failed

Courtesy of the Independent Journal Review, here is a list of 14 big government programs that failed to achieve their goals. The next time you’re having a debate with a statist, whip out one of these and see what their pithy comeback is.

1) Prohibition: For 14 years, the United States was officially “dry.” Problem was, it wasn’t. The black market flourished, as did crime, the mafia and rampant violence. Enacted in 1919, in 1933, it was finally repealed – ending one of the greatest “big government” experiments ever.

2) No Child Left Behind: Under President George W. Bush’s education program, federal spending for schools more than doubled – problem was, student test scores didn’t budge. Not one bit. We still lag behind much of the industrialized world. (It didn’t used to be that way though, before the feds poured all the money – and rules – into local schools, we were at the top of the list.)

3) Medicare: When it was started in 1965, it was estimated Medicare would cost $9 billion per year by 1990 – it cost $67 billion. Now? $390 billion. And are we that much healthier than we were 50 years ago?

4) Medicaid: Same deal. It was estimated to cost $100 million, now it costs $211 billion.

5) Immigration reform: The number of illegal aliens entering this country has more than tripled since Reagan was president. Whether we should increase or decrease the flow of immigration, it’s clear the feds have no idea what they’re doing.

6) The War on Drugs: Since Nixon, we have spent over $1 billion and incarcerated millions of Americans over relatively minor drug charges. This is one of the most spectacular failures of our government.

7) Farm subsidies. Paying farmers not to grow crops? Why that plan can’t possibly fail!

8) Ethanol: Over the last 30 years, the feds have given almost $45 billion to support the ethanol industry. Problem? It’s inefficient, more polluting and raises the price of corn. Genius.

9) “Green Jobs:” When he was elected, President Obama launched an all-out campaign to kickstart the Green Economy. They launched a new training program, hoping to find 125,000 green jobs. When it was all said and done, about 8,000 got jobs and we paid $62,000 to get them those jobs.

10) Banning DDT. The malaria-killing chemical (which saved 500 million lives in Africa) was banned in 1970 because it was believed to kill birds. Since then, countless millions have died horrible deaths because Western powers refuse to admit they were wrong.

11) The War on Terror: Started under President Bush, we have spent over a trillion dollars attempting to secure our borders and defeat terrorism. Not to mention thousands of lives and a soiled reputation.

12) The Assault Weapons Ban: Since the ban expired in 2006, the number of deaths from guns (assault weapons or not) has declined precipitously. Enough said.

13) When it was started in 1935, Social Security was a tax of only one percent of income. Now it is over six percent and climbing. In the next 75 years, as America ages, Social Security will go broke.

14) Obamacare: When he proposed the Affordable Care Act, President Obama assured Americans the plan would cost less than $1 trillion. The latest projection is the program will cost three times that.