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Close HealthCare.gov For Security Reasons, Experts Say
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David F. Carr
David F. Carr,
 User Rank: Strategist
11/22/2013 | 2:43:40 PM
Re: Unanimous?
As Prof. Rubin states, "One of the biggest mistakes of HealthCare.gov was the decision to roll it out all on one day. That is not the way large systems go live in practice."

Any Internet company would have started with a website where people signed up to get a notification when the live site was available, and invitations would then be metered out to those people to try it before it went live to any larger group. That kind of slow roll out could have identified scalability problems early and minimized security issues.
TerryB
TerryB,
 User Rank: Ninja
11/22/2013 | 1:09:44 PM
Re: Stating the obvious
I'm with Lorna. As you took quote from a Republican politician, who probably needs help from his 9 year old to reboot his computer, this article lost some credibility.

The government has had enough of our information for many years that someone could use for identity theft. Why we are now talking about this because of this new application? If this site is not "safe", then I'm sure the IRS, Medicare, etc are just as vulnerable. And only to the very best and brightest hackers, no script kiddie is cracking these sites. The guys that wrote StuxNet? They can probably get into anything that is usable and connected. That's life today.
Lorna Garey
Lorna Garey,
 User Rank: Ninja
11/21/2013 | 11:18:07 AM
Stating the obvious
EVERY site -- every Internet-connected device -- is constantly being probed for weaknesses. The only way the ACA site is 100% safe is if it's unplugged, which is exactly what the GOP wants. No matter how much money or expertise you throw at code, no one can promise 100% invulnerability. To imply otherwise is disingenuous.
WKash
WKash,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/20/2013 | 11:32:10 PM
Hard Pill to Swallow
It's hard to take as credible the statement by Henry Chao, deputy CIO at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), when he says Healthcare.gov sports "layers" of security, and referenced CMS's track record of securing the data for people enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.  The Medicare and Medicaid sites are still going through rigorous reviews and improvements in security controls and they are mature systems. Going live with Heathcare.gov before completing the necessary testing seems like opening a US embassy in Russia while it's still under construction and expecting nothing incideous will happen.  The notion of replacing the current system with a new  one maybe a hard pill to swallow, but it may be the right decision.

 
PaulS681
PaulS681,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/20/2013 | 8:48:25 PM
Re: Unanimous?
Unfortunatley I think politics is keeping the site open. Maybe the government will do the right thing and shut it down, fix it, then get it back online. I'm not holding my breath.
David F. Carr
David F. Carr,
 User Rank: Strategist
11/20/2013 | 3:40:56 PM
Unanimous?
Seems unanimous: Healthcare.gov: Biggest Security Risks Yet To Come

Who would care to make an argue that it's better to soldier on and fix the system while continuing to operate it? Is there a technical argument for keeping the site live, as opposed to a political one?


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