Delaup: Obamacare's web issues may be due to hacking

Shreveporttimes

On Sept. 2, an article printed in the Washington Wire (a Wall Street Journal blog) states how the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the U.S. Marine website. On Sept. 27, in the Computer World newspaper, an article states that Iran is accused of hacking into the U.S. Navy computer. On May 22, an article in the Global Post is titled, “N. Korea: How the least wired country becomes a hacking superpower.”

Computer hacking is not uncommon and often not difficult. Available access to Obamacare was to be on the website HealthCare.gov. as of Monday, Oct. 1. That did not happen. While trying to search the website, upon applying, you will see phrases such as, “We have a lot of visitors on this site right now” and “Please stay on this page.” The problem is not “glitches,” it is hacking. The website was put together for the president of the U.S. These software engineers do not make mistakes allowing glitches to infect their websites.

Illegal hackers can be better skilled at their trade than legal, or “ethical,” hackers. A very common and well-known method of hacking is called cross-site scripting. This occurs when a user inputs malicious data, or “malware,” into a website, which causes the application to do something it wasn’t intended to do. If online access to applying for Obamacare is not available, it will cause some people to become frustrated and delay, or even refrain, from applying.

A further means of hacking is drive-by downloading. In February, NBC.com was hacked by four Russians, and the malware was spread among visitors to the website. Computer hacking can be a very efficient and inexpensive means of protesting. Damage can be in the millions.

If agreements are not made and problems not solved, it can be compounded with more serious types of protest.