Healthcare.gov Faced Security Risks, Feds Were Told

Alex Kane Rudansky | InformationWeek | October 31, 2013

As HHS secretary Sebelius testified to Congress about the flawed rollout, a memo surfaced that predicted security risks due to inadequate testing.

Officials for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) were alerted four days prior to the launch of Healthcare.gov that a lack of testing posed security risks for the healthcare insurance website, according to an internal government memo obtained by the Associated Press.

The AP report released Wednesday surfaced just as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius testified on Capitol Hill about the Healthcare.gov fiasco. While Sebelius admitted there should have been more testing, she said security was never an issue.

"Clearly the testing should have been longer and should have been more sufficient," Sebelius said to the House Energy and Commerce committee. "Contractors said, 'we would've loved more testing time, but we're ready to go ahead.'"