The ObamaCare website - healthcare.gov - has failed to turn out as the Obama Administration had hoped, and it seems things are about to get even worse. According to a new report, hackers have threatened the destruction of the ObamaCare website by creating a DDoS tool to bring the site down. The tool that aims to overload the ObamaCare website has been mentioned on social media several times and is also available for download.
However, according to a report from Arbor Networks, the tool is not well designed, and it is "unlikely to succeed in affecting the availability of the healthcare.gov site." If this is the case, then the Obama Administration need not worry. However, if Arbor Networks turn out to be wrong, then the healthcare.gov website could be in for some serious downtime.
Here's what the hackers have to say:
"This program continually displays alternate page of the ObamaCare website. It has no virus, Trojans, worms, or cookies. The purpose is to overload the ObamaCare website, to deny service [sic] to users and perhaps overload and crash the system," reads the program's grammar- and spelling-challenged "about" screen. "You can open as many copies of this program as you want. Each copy opens multiple links to the site."
"ObamaCare is an affront to the Constitutional rights of the people," it adds. "We HAVE the right to CIVIL disobedience!"
The source of these claims is unclear and could just be a joke. Still, if it is real, then this would make for the newest hacktivist tool in a long time to come. Furthermore, this tool could bring to an end the Healthcare.gov insurance exchange website, which has come under hard times since its debut on October 1
"This application continues a trend [we are] seeing with denial of service attacks being used as a means of retaliation against a policy, legal rulings or government actions," Arbor Networks researchers wrote.
The government is going to have a difficult time having healthcare.gov up and running smoothly if hacktivist groups are planning a large scale attack on the website.
