Consumer Facing Health Care Systems

Sunyaev, Ali

doi:10.2979/eservicej.9.2.1

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…Among many other apps, mHealth apps may offer a means of communication between patients and medical professionals. They also give patients the ability to keep track of their medical characteristics [2-5]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Client-Focused Security Assessment of mHealth Apps and Recommended Practices to Prevent or Mitigate Transport Security Issues

Müthing¹,

Jäschke²,

Friedrich³

2017

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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BackgroundMobile health (mHealth) apps show a growing importance for patients and health care professionals. Apps in this category are diverse. Some display important information (ie, drug interactions), whereas others help patients to keep track of their health. However, insufficient transport security can lead to confidentiality issues for patients and medical professionals, as well as safety issues regarding data integrity. mHealth apps should therefore deploy intensified vigilance to protect their data and integrity. This paper analyzes the state of security in mHealth apps.ObjectiveThe objectives of this study were as follows: (1) identification of relevant transport issues in mHealth apps, (2) development of a platform for test purposes, and (3) recommendation of practices to mitigate them.MethodsSecurity characteristics relevant to the transport security of mHealth apps were assessed, presented, and discussed. These characteristics were used in the development of a prototypical platform facilitating streamlined tests of apps. For the tests, six lists of the 10 most downloaded free apps from three countries and two stores were selected. As some apps were part of these top 10 lists in more than one country, 53 unique apps were tested.ResultsOut of the 53 apps tested from three European App Stores for Android and iOS, 21/53 (40%) showed critical results. All 21 apps failed to guarantee the integrity of data displayed. A total of 18 apps leaked private data or were observable in a way that compromised confidentiality between apps and their servers; 17 apps used unprotected connections; and two apps failed to validate certificates correctly. None of the apps tested utilized certificate pinning. Many apps employed analytics or ad providers, undermining user privacy.ConclusionsThe tests show that many mHealth apps do not apply sufficient transport security measures. The most common security issue was the use of any kind of unprotected connection. Some apps used secure connections only for selected tasks, leaving all other traffic vulnerable.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Client-Focused Security Assessment of mHealth Apps and Recommended Practices to Prevent or Mitigate Transport Security Issues

Müthing¹,

Jäschke²,

Friedrich³

2017

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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show abstract

“…Mobile health (mHealth) leverages various wireless technologies to provide health-related information and services on diverse mobile devices and is a promising subset of health information technology (IT) [ 1 - 6 ]. mHealth has the potential to alleviate global health burdens due to rising dissemination of mobile devices, standardized and easy access to cloud or Internet services, and the possibility of affordable global deployment [ 4 , 7 - 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Far Side of Mobile Health: Information Security and Privacy of Mobile Health Apps on iOS and Android

Dehling¹,

Gao²,

Schneider³

et al. 2015

JMIR mHealth uHealth

222

159

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BackgroundMobile health (mHealth) apps aim at providing seamless access to tailored health information technology and have the potential to alleviate global health burdens. Yet, they bear risks to information security and privacy because users need to reveal private, sensitive medical information to redeem certain benefits. Due to the plethora and diversity of available mHealth apps, implications for information security and privacy are unclear and complex.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to establish an overview of mHealth apps offered on iOS and Android with a special focus on potential damage to users through information security and privacy infringements.MethodsWe assessed apps available in English and offered in the categories “Medical” and “Health & Fitness” in the iOS and Android App Stores. Based on the information retrievable from the app stores, we established an overview of available mHealth apps, tagged apps to make offered information machine-readable, and clustered the discovered apps to identify and group similar apps. Subsequently, information security and privacy implications were assessed based on health specificity of information available to apps, potential damage through information leaks, potential damage through information manipulation, potential damage through information loss, and potential value of information to third parties.ResultsWe discovered 24,405 health-related apps (iOS; 21,953; Android; 2452). Absence or scarceness of ratings for 81.36% (17,860/21,953) of iOS and 76.14% (1867/2452) of Android apps indicates that less than a quarter of mHealth apps are in more or less widespread use. Clustering resulted in 245 distinct clusters, which were consolidated into 12 app archetypes grouping clusters with similar assessments of potential damage through information security and privacy infringements. There were 6426 apps that were excluded during clustering. The majority of apps (95.63%, 17,193/17,979; of apps) pose at least some potential damage through information security and privacy infringements. There were 11.67% (2098/17,979) of apps that scored the highest assessments of potential damages.ConclusionsVarious kinds of mHealth apps collect and offer critical, sensitive, private medical information, calling for a special focus on information security and privacy of mHealth apps. In order to foster user acceptance and trust, appropriate security measures and processes need to be devised and employed so that users can benefit from seamlessly accessible, tailored mHealth apps without exposing themselves to the serious repercussions of information security and privacy infringements.

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What is a PHR? Definitions of Personal Health Record (PHR) Used in Literature—A Systematic Literature Review

Koskinen

Rantanen

2020

Communications in Computer and Information Science

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Consumer Facing Health Care Systems

Cited by 6 publications

References 61 publications

Client-Focused Security Assessment of mHealth Apps and Recommended Practices to Prevent or Mitigate Transport Security Issues

Client-Focused Security Assessment of mHealth Apps and Recommended Practices to Prevent or Mitigate Transport Security Issues

Exploring the Far Side of Mobile Health: Information Security and Privacy of Mobile Health Apps on iOS and Android

What is a PHR? Definitions of Personal Health Record (PHR) Used in Literature—A Systematic Literature Review

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