GAO: Healthcare.gov Security, Privacy Weaknesses Still Exist

ABC News(WASHINGTON) — An audit released by the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday says that some privacy and security flaws that existed when Healthcare.gov was launched still remain months later.

The GAO noted that many systems and entities must exchange information in order for users to optimally utilize Healthcare.gov to compare, select and enroll in private health insurance plans. When the website launched, it was notably full of security holes, glitches and errors that complicated users’ efforts to sign up for health insurance.

In Capitol Hill testimony about the myriad problems with the site back in November, ABC News reported that “white hat hacker” David Kennedy highlighted for Congress that the beleaguered website, which cost hundreds of millions to launch, had critical flaws and exposures, “that hackers could use to extract sensitive information.” Kennedy said at the time, “Just by looking at the website, we can see that there is just fundamental security principles that are not being followed,” before physically demonstrating how easy Healthcare.gov was to hack. “We can actually…monitor [a user’s] webcam, listen to their microphone, steal passwords…Anything that they do on their computer we now have full access to.,” Kennedy advised.

In Wednesday’s audit, the GAO notes that while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have, “taken steps to protect the security and privacy of data processed and maintained by the complex set of systems and interconnections that support Healthcare.gov, weaknesses remain.”

CMS, the GAO says, “did not and has not yet ensured a shared understanding of how security was implemented for the federal healthcare marketplace” among each entity involved. Until the CMS addresses the existing weaknesses, the GAO warns, “unnecessary risks remain of unauthorized access, disclosure, or modification of the information” users may input.

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