A government computer system which had access to patient data on HealthCare.gov was hacked, compromising sensitive personal data of some 75,000 people.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services confirmed the breach in a late Friday announcement (a time slot agencies often use to release unfavourable developments) , but revealed few details about the contents of the files stolen.
HealthCare.Gov was Hacked Directly ?
No, The hacked system had privileged access to the Healthcare.gov website, the front-facing portal signing up for an insurance plan under former President Obama’s healthcare Law.
Hackers targeted the system that insurance agents used to help customers enroll in new plans and not the consumer Healthcare.gov site itself.
Extent of User Data compromised from HealtCare.Gov
CMS didn’t say exactly what kind of data was included in the stolen files, nor did it say how the breach happened. The procedure to sign up for healthcare plans is thorough and customers have to give over a ton of personal data — including names, addresses, income, citizenship or legal immigration status and their social security number. It is highly likely that such details might have been exposed and might appear on some dark net portal for sale after few weeks.
New Health Care Plans will Proceed ?
CMS said that the Healthcare.gov website was unaffected. Open enrollment in new healthcare plans — set for November 1 — will be unaffected, the statement said.
Officials are working to identify the individuals potentially impacted as quickly as possible so that we can notify them and provide resources such as credit protection
Even if you follow my guide on keeping secure and strong passwords these types of data breaches are beyond our control and leave us badly exposed with threat of our identity theft thus Governments should apply better security means to safeguard and protect our data and privacy
This post was last modified on October 21, 2018 12:51 am