Hackers successfully breached Obamacare website

Hackers successfully breached HealthCare.gov, but no consumer information was taken from the health insurance website that serves more than 5 million Americans, the Obama administration disclosed Thursday.

Instead, the hackers installed malicious software that could have been used to launch an attack on other websites from the federal insurance portal. The hack is believed to be the first successful attack against HealthCare.gov and was discovered at the end of August by Department of Health and Human Services employees.

The website opened last year as part of the Affordable Care Act to help Americans compare and purchase health insurance.

The hacker was traced to a foreign IP address but is not believed to be a state actor, according to an HHS official. After the breach was discovered, HHS leadership and the HHS Office of the Inspector General (the agency's independent watchdog) were quickly notified about it. The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S.-CERT) helped respond to the hack.

The hacked server has been disconnected, and there is no evidence that the intrusion took place on other HHS servers.

US government officials are still investigating the hack. In the meantime, HHS is conducting a comprehensive review of security improvements and said that it is taking "proactive steps" to protect the HealthCare.gov.