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Obamacare Website: A Hacker’s “Wet Dream”

We’re pretty sure members of the U.S. Congress don’t often receive testimony containing the term “wet dream,” but that was the descriptive metaphor used by a security expert called upon to assess the vulnerabilities of the much-maligned Obamacare website. Kevin Mitnick – known in the 1990s as the “World’s Most…

We’re pretty sure members of the U.S. Congress don’t often receive testimony containing the term “wet dream,” but that was the descriptive metaphor used by a security expert called upon to assess the vulnerabilities of the much-maligned Obamacare website.

Kevin Mitnick – known in the 1990s as the “World’s Most Wanted Hacker” – has spent the last decade-and-a-half analyzing internet security and making recommendations regarding “penetration testing.”

What does he think of the Obamacare site?  Not much …

“Healthcare.gov retrieves information from numerous third-party databases belonging to the IRS, Social Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and other State agencies,” Mitnick testified. “It would be a hacker’s wet dream to break into Healthcare.gov and potentially gain access to the information stored in these databases. A breach may result in massive identity theft never seen before — these databases house information on every U.S. citizen!”

Wait … hopefully a website costing taxpayers more than a billion dollars to launch took into account sufficient security precautions, right?

Right?

Um … no.

“It’s shameful the team that built the Healthcare.gov site implemented minimal, if any, security best practices to mitigate the significant risk of a system compromise or access to consumer proprietary information,” Mitnick testified.

According to Mitnick, the recent hacking of consumer information from retailer Target should serve as “a big wake up call for the Government.”

“It’s time for the Healthcare.gov to shore up their defenses by adopting best security practices, including identifying and remediating security flaws that will be exploited by our adversaries,” he wrote.

Or … just scrap the whole thing.

MITNICK TESTIMONY (.pdf)

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7 comments

deowll January 17, 2014 at 6:12 pm

Everybody but the WH can see that the light at the end of this tunnel is a freight train coming and they won’t do jack until after we are all road kill.

Reply
euwe max January 18, 2014 at 2:58 am

I know – once someone gets my information, I’ll have train tracks all over my back. LITERALLY!

It’ll be ARMAGEDDON!!!!

I think I’ll go outside, run around in circles screaming… and set my hair on fire.

Be right back.

Reply
optimist January 18, 2014 at 8:49 am

Yeah, I thought the security of our nation and its’ citizens was government’s Job One.
Forget about the Wolf of Wall Street, Obama is the Wolf of Main Street. The con continues…
If Teen pregnancy has declined because of MTV shows (Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant) maybe the US population will wake up to the horrors and make a correction too.

Reply
MashPotato January 17, 2014 at 11:05 pm

If it’s Angelina Jolie’s wet dream, I’m all for it
http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/1995_Hackers/995HAC_Angelina_Jolie_048.jpg

Reply
euwe max January 18, 2014 at 2:56 am

The script kiddies were at work on it since day 1.

I wonder if anyone has thought to run a virus check on the server.

Reply
tomstickler January 19, 2014 at 4:14 pm

If the NSA is worth anything, hackers trying to break in to Healthcare.gov should be drone-bait.

Reply
Slartibartfast January 19, 2014 at 11:04 pm

What I find amazing is that grown adults, speaking to defend the President, said that there is no proof that the Obamacare system – not just the website – has had any hacks. Since these people are so pathetically ignorant in the ways of computers, HOW DO THEY KNOW?

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