As the Trump administration continues to bungle their coronavirus response while the pandemic sweeps the country, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was hacked into over the weekend, forcing the National Security Council to tweet out assurances to the American public.
Nearly 4,000 people have contracted the virus across the country and 70 have died, with far more cases likely uncounted because testing has been limited due to Trump’s pathetic response.
People are also panicking and the stock market is plunging. And the fact that the Health and Human Services Department has been hacked is not inspiring confidence.
According to Bloomberg:
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department suffered a cyber-attack on its computer system Sunday night during the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The attack appears to have been intended to slow the agency’s systems down, but didn’t do so in any meaningful way, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss an incident that was not public.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
It is currently unknown who the attackers were, but they apparently attempted to spread misinformation about the pandemic and the government’s response to it, including rumors of a national lockdown similar to the one in Italy.
The rumors forced the National Security Council to post a response on Twitter assuring Americans that there are no plans for a national lockdown or quarantine.
Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19. #coronavirus
— NSC (@WHNSC) March 16, 2020
Of course, we are talking about Donald Trump, a serial liar who has total control over government agencies and what they tell the public. That includes the National Security Council.
Nevertheless, HHS is one of the most crucial departments fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. The last thing we need is for it to be hacked and the crisis made worse. Trump is not only failing to protect the American people from the pandemic, he’s failing to protect government agencies from being hacked during the crisis, making him an even more incompetent leader.
Featured image via screen capture
Like what you see here? Join the discussion on Facebook over at Americans For Sanity!
