On Second Thought, Maybe HealthCare.gov Is at Risk from Heartbleed

Breitbart's The Conversation ^ | April 19, 2014 | John Hayward

[2ndDivisionVet]

It seems like only yesterday that the federal government assured us that none of its big public websites - and especially not HealthCare.gov, the ObamaCare exchange site - were at risk from the Heartbleed security flaw, which can allow hackers to steal passwords and personal data.

Actually, those assurances came last Friday, April 11, in the form of a blog post from the Department of Homeland Security. "The government's core citizen-facing websites are not exposed to risks from this cybersecurity threat," we were assured by DHS National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center director Larry Zelvin, as quoted at Nextgov.

One week later, those promises are no longer operative. There hasn't been a confirmed attack on HealthCare.gov... but the Administration just told every single user to change their passwords, just to be on the safe side.

So they were... shall we say... speaking in haste when they assured us last week that absolutely no chance of Heartbleed vulnerability existed. But you can totes believe them now when they say they're conducting a review and want millions of users to change their passwords from "an abundance of caution."(continued)

[2ndDivisionVet]

There's a day coming when someone is going to make a fortune in tar & feathers, pitchforks and rails.

[upchuck]

Last paragraph:

A reminder: nothing short of a congressional subpoena would ever make this Administration admit that HealthCare.gov has been hacked, and they'd probably fight such a subpoena until (and unless) the bad press from stonewalling became unbearable. They will never admit to a security breach in this system, because they're terrified of driving away potential ObamaCare enrollees - especially the young ones who would be likely to react strongly to a security breach.

True that.

[LegendHasIt]

[Gaffer]

One could use the LastPast Heartbleed URL site checker to see if it is vulnerable, etc.

I would, but I swear on my life, I will NEVER type that URL or visit it, even by accident!