Security Vulnerabilities in Mobile Health Applications

Abstract

With the growth of mobile health (mHealth) applications, it is imperative to make sure that users' health records and their privacy are safeguarded properly. In this paper, twenty five mobile health applications are analyzed for security and privacy vulnerabilities. Each of these applications is available from the Google Play Store, has a medical tag, requests permission for full network access, and connects to a medical device. Network security and authentication vulnerabilities together with various Man in the Middle attacks, and HIPAA noncompliance for all applications are inspected. The results of the security and privacy tests indicate that each application suffers from security and/or privacy vulnerabilities. The application security and privacy vulnerabilities results of the analyzed applications was subsequently shared with their development teams. The results from analysis are beneficial for mHealth application developers to be more cognizant of such vulnerabilities. Furthermore mHealth users are encouraged to be more diligent in choosing a robust and secure mHealth application.