HHS claims it patched a piece of faulty software which led to personal information being delivered to a complete stranger via the Obamacare website. HHS told ABC13:
We identified a piece of software code that needed to be fixed and that fix is now in place. We take security issues very seriously and we will take the appropriate steps to follow up with this individual directly.
This comes four days after South Carolina attorney Thomas Dougall first learned his personal information had been delivered to a stranger 200 miles away in North Carolina. The story broke over the weekend after the man who received Dougall’s information contacted the Heritage Foundation with the story. Monday, Breitbart News interviewed Dougall. He described his attempts to notify someone at HHS about the breach.
The response from HHS fails to explain how the software glitch happened or how many people were potentially affected. Justin Hadley, the man who received Dougall’s information, also received information for another stranger in South Carolina. So at least two individuals had their information revealed to a stranger, but there’s no reason to think the problem was limited to two. HHS’s statement fails to say how many people were potentially (or actually) affected by the glitch.
Last week, CNN reported on a government memo written days before the Oct. 1st launch, which warned that the security at Healthcare.gov was at “high risk” because of a lack of testing. The memo said in part “”Due to system readiness issues, the SCA (security control assessment) was only partly completed.”
Monday, CBS’ Sharyl Atkisson reported that the deadline for final security testing was repeatedly pushed back. Then, just four days before launch, the government granted itself a security waiver to allow it to continue testing after the go live date.