Work

Security Concerns in Android mHealth Apps.

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Mobile Health (mHealth) applications lie outside of regulatory protection such as HIPAA, which requires a baseline of privacy and security protections appropriate to sensitive medical data. However, mHealth apps, particularly those in the app stores for iOS and Android, are increasingly handling sensitive data for both professionals and patients. This paper presents a series of three studies of the mHealth apps in Google Play that show that mHealth apps make widespread use of unsecured Internet communications and third party servers. Both of these practices would be considered problematic under HIPAA, suggesting that increased use of mHealth apps could lead to less secure treatment of health data unless mHealth vendors make improvements in the way they communicate and store data.

Source: PubMed Central

Authors: Dongjing He, Muhammad Naveed, Carl A Gunter, Klara Nahrstedt

Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Language: English

Topic: Mobile Health and mHealth Applications

Subfield: General Health Professions

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institutes of Health

Award: Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Award