HHS: Healthcare.gov breach did not compromise personal data

Hackers breached the Healthcare.gov website in July when they uploaded malicious software to a test server, but there’s no sign that personal data are at risk.

“Our review indicates that the server did not contain consumer personal information; data was not transmitted outside the agency, and the website was not specifically targeted. We have taken measures to further strengthen security," according to a statement from the Department of Health & Human Services.

The hackers had accessed a test server that was not supposed to be connected to the Internet, and that was not subject to regular security scans. The malicious software had not specifically targeted Healthcare.gov, but was part of a broader botnet attack that utilizes a large number of computers to launch attacks on other websites to force them offline, according to the New York Times.