Hacker Tool “Destroy Obamacare” Targets Healthcare.gov | theMugNews

Hacker Tool “Destroy Obamacare” Targets Healthcare.gov 

Security researcher say they have discovered a new hacking tool called “Destroy Obamacare,” designed to target the embattled federal healthcare exchange website.

There are no known examples of the tool being used, though researchers at Arbor Networks said they were able to download it on the Internet and saw it “mentioned on social media.”

The program is written to overload healthcare.gov with meaningless traffic generated automatically, the researchers said. The data flood, creating what security professionals call a “denial of service” attack, would then prevent legitimate users from accessing the site.

There is no evidence the program has been actually used or that the healthcare website has ever suffered a cyberattack. But the existence of the program highlights that politically contentious websites are often targeted by “hacktivists.”

Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich.) chairman of the House intelligence committee, has said healthcare.gov should be taken offline until it is functional and goes through a more thorough security review.

For More News And Knowledge Like Us On Facebook,