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goalieskates
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goalieskates

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Did former USSR republic insert malicious code in Obamacare site?

Washington Times
quote:
U.S. intelligence is urging the Obama administration to check its new health care computer network for malicious software after learning that developers linked to the Belarusian government helped produce the website, raising fresh concerns that private data posted by millions of Americans could be compromised.

The intelligence agencies notified the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency in charge of the HealthCare.gov network, about their concerns last week. Specifically, officials warned that programmers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, were suspected of inserting malicious code that could be used for cyberattacks, said U.S. officials familiar with concerns.

“The U.S. Affordable Care Act software was written in part in Belarus by software developers under state control ..."

U.S. officials were alerted to the Belarus angle last month when a top official in the country boasted on radio about his country’s role in programming the Obamacare website. ... an official testified to Congress that all software work for the network had been performed in the United States.
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Blackbird
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Re: Did former USSR republic insert malicious code in Obamacare site?

quote:
... officials warned that programmers in Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with Russia, were suspected of inserting malicious code that could be used for cyberattacks, said U.S. officials familiar with concerns. ...
If they didn't insert malicious code, they certainly missed the golden opportunity of a lifetime. This is also what comes of the world's largest bureaucracy being placed in charge of website (and health-care system) design. I'm unsure which is more remarkable... that the failures have been so spectacular and so numerous or that large numbers of people honestly believed it would somehow be otherwise.
HarryH3
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HarryH3

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said by Blackbird:

I'm unsure which is more remarkable... that the failures have been so spectacular and so numerous or that large numbers of people honestly believed it would somehow be otherwise.

What I find even more remarkable is that when asked, the instigators insist that everything is going well. Reminds me of this:

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· _IBk7hAA


Liberty
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This fashion accessory may be helpful in situations like this:

»www.urbandictionary.com/ ··· foil+hat
dave
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Any references for this beyond the moony 'Washington Times' and the web sites that have cut'n'pasted its article (with 'suspected of inserting malware' replaced by 'inserted malware' in quite a few cases)?

I couldn't find any with a few moments googling.

goalieskates
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goalieskates

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said by dave:

Any references for this beyond the moony 'Washington Times' and the web sites that have cut'n'pasted its article

Not sure what you would consider a not-moony source. The Washington Times is no more moony than the Washington Post or the NY Times. And I didn't put this here to debate politics or the act itself; the forum is about security.

Tsepkalo in Belarus was making the claim as far back as June. You should be able to verify that. I'd give you a sample link, but who knows if that would meet your standards?

Blackbird
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said by dave:

Any references for this beyond the moony 'Washington Times' and the web sites that have cut'n'pasted its article (with 'suspected of inserting malware' replaced by 'inserted malware' in quite a few cases)? I couldn't find any with a few moments googling.

This is from the end of a FoxNews article on the subject;
quote:
... Officials disclosed the potential software compromise last week after the discovery in early January of statements by Belarusian official Valery Tsepkalo, director of the government-backed High-Technology Park (HTP) in Minsk.

Tsepkalo told a Russian radio station in an interview broadcast last summer that HHS is “one of our clients,” and that “we are helping Obama complete his insurance reform.”
»www.foxnews.com/politics ··· -attack/

Tsepkalo is also the former Belarus ambassador to the US (1997-2002) and was a deputy foreign minister. Of course, either he or the interviewer and reporters quoting him could have made it all up...

goalieskates
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U.S. probed if Obamacare software written overseas; no sign from Belarus (Reuters)
quote:
Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, confirmed that U.S. intelligence agencies recently retracted a report that questioned whether some of the software connected to the health reform law was developed in Belarus and could contain malicious code.

Officials of the White House and office of Director of National Intelligence did not explain precisely why the intelligence report, prepared by a U.S. spy unit called the Open Source Center, was withdrawn.

... Shawn Turner, chief spokesman for U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, said in an email that the withdrawn intelligence report about Belarus "was an Open Source Center daily update that was recalled because it failed to meet internal requirements for classification review."

He declined to elaborate.

The report was marked, "Unclassified/For Official Use Only," according to a U.S. official who saw it, who asked not to be named.

Blackbird
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Blackbird

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Actually, this is even more "interesting" than the original report. the intel report was withdrawn over 'classification review' issues, not for any alleged inaccuracy. Which makes one wonder why classification would even be an issue, since Tsepkalo's purported statement is in the public record (though admittedly the public record overseas), and Federal contracting/sub-contracting for writing site code for a civilian arm of the government ought to also be public record as well. Or not... and if not, why not?