Corruption, thy name is Obamacare. Is that the smell of ACORN?
Time to shine a bit of light into some more dark corners and see what lies beneath. A system is bureaucratic, top-heavy and complex as Obamacare is ripe for abuse and mistakes even with well-meaning people manning the system. What if you have not-so-well-meaning people? There was always the chance that Obamacare navigators could be bad actors, urging people to lie about their income or health, as new video from Project Veritas suggests they already are.
HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius admitted in an exchange with Sen. John Cornyn that there is no requirement that navigators, who have access to your most important personal information, go through a criminal background check:
As a test, CBS gave one technology expert the real healthcare.gov username of a CBS employee, and within seconds, he identified the specific security question she used to reset her password.
Sean Henry, the former assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, said the security issues need to be taken seriously.
“If somebody’s got the ability to look at a source code and able to reverse-engineer that and identify what somebody’s personal questions are, that should be of concern,” Henry said.
Politico:
it doesn’t even require malice on the part of navigators or the bill’s
allies to screw up people’s lives royally. What if you add malice and intent to the mix?
Time to shine a bit of light into some more dark corners and see what lies beneath. A system is bureaucratic, top-heavy and complex as Obamacare is ripe for abuse and mistakes even with well-meaning people manning the system. What if you have not-so-well-meaning people? There was always the chance that Obamacare navigators could be bad actors, urging people to lie about their income or health, as new video from Project Veritas suggests they already are.
Quote:James O’Keefe, the guerrilla videographer who helped bring down ACORN (the “community organizing” group that Barack Obama worked for as a lawyer and trainer) and got NPR’s president fired, is back.
This time, his undercover investigators focused on Obamacare’s “navigators,” the nearly 50,000 people who, in the words of the Department of Health and Human Services, “will serve as an in-person resource for Americans who want additional assistance in shopping for and enrolling in plans” on the Obamacare exchanges (at least when they’re finally working). The total value of grants doled out for nonprofits and community organizations to hire navigators has topped $67 million nationwide, and some of the money is going to a group run by ACORN’s highly controversial founder.
The events of O’Keefe’s video of a Texas navigator site run by the National Urban League are a familiar sight to viewers of his past efforts exposing Medicaid and voter fraud. Government-paid workers supposedly trained to uphold the law advise clients on how to lie on government forms, evade legal requirements, and ignore proper procedures.
HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius admitted in an exchange with Sen. John Cornyn that there is no requirement that navigators, who have access to your most important personal information, go through a criminal background check:
Quote:“Isn’t it true that there is no federal requirement for navigators to undergo a criminal background check,” Cornyn asked her.But the navigators are by no means the only open window for crooks in Obamacare. There's the trainwreck of the website itself, which did not even go through a top-to-bottom security check before launching.
“That is true,” Sebelius answered. “States could add in additional background checks and other features, but it is not part of the federal requirement.”
Cornyn pressed, “So a convicted felon could be a navigator and could acquire sensitive personal information from an individual unbeknownst to them?”
Sebelius answered, “This is possible.”
As a test, CBS gave one technology expert the real healthcare.gov username of a CBS employee, and within seconds, he identified the specific security question she used to reset her password.
Sean Henry, the former assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, said the security issues need to be taken seriously.
“If somebody’s got the ability to look at a source code and able to reverse-engineer that and identify what somebody’s personal questions are, that should be of concern,” Henry said.
Politico:
Quote:Early stumbles on the hobbled Obamacare website —Obamacare is a system so complex, so incompetently administered that
password glitches, incomplete testing and fractured development —
underscore considerable safety risks and hint at deeper vulnerabilities,
data security experts warn.
Lawmakers seized on those concerns Tuesday and will most likely do so
again Wednesday, reverting attention to a process that has astounded IT
specialists…
A software tester recently discovered a series of potential security
flaws, including one in the site’s password-reset function that would
enable a skilled hacker to access users’ email and security questions.
Another allowed a password-reset request to send information to
third-party analytics companies such as Pingdom and Google’s
DoubleClick. A report this week indicated that a North Carolina man
logged on to the site only to receive eligibility information about
someone in another state.
Tavenner called the latest concern a “personal identification issue,”
the agency corrected. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius labeled the password glitch a “theoretical problem that was
immediately fixed” and insisted at a recent House hearing that the
website stores “the minimum amount of data.” The Senate Finance
Committee on Wednesday is expected to question her further.
These issues, while small, go against industry best practices the
administration says it follows. Security analysts fear they hint at
bigger bugs in the system. Such weaknesses might not only allow hackers
to access personal information but make it easier to engage in
clickjacking — a process where harmful links appear like legitimate
portions of a website — or pharming, where criminals direct users to a
bogus site and take their information.
it doesn’t even require malice on the part of navigators or the bill’s
allies to screw up people’s lives royally. What if you add malice and intent to the mix?
Quote:With millions of Americans frustrated and bewildered byI know for damned sure I don't want my information going through this security sieve. But maybe those of you who were such big believers in government run healthcare would like to put your faith in them? "By all means, after you, Francois!"
the trouble-prone federal website for health insurance, con men and
unscrupulous marketers are seizing their chance. State and federal
authorities report a rising number of consumer complaints, ranging from
deceptive sales practices to identity theft, linked to the Affordable
Care Act.
Madeleine Mirzayans was fooled when a man posing as a government
official knocked on her door. Barbara Miller and Maevis Ethan were
pitched by telemarketers who claimed to work for Medicaid. And Buford
Price was almost caught by another trap: websites that look official but
are actually bait set by fly-by-night insurance operators.