Privacy Risks and Security Threats in mHealth apps
Open accessAbstract
mHealth (Mobile Health) applications (apps) have transformed the doctor-patient relationship. They help users with varied functionalities such as monitoring their health, understanding specific health conditions, consulting doctors online and achieving fitness goals. Whilst these apps provide an option of equitable and convenient access to healthcare, a lot of personal and sensitive data about users is collected, stored and shared to achieve these functionalities. Little is known about the privacy and security concerns these apps address. Based on literature review, this paper identifies the privacy risks and security features for evaluating thirty apps in the Medical category across two app distribution platforms in India namely Google Play and App Store. Factors identified through the review formed a basis of the scoring model which helped to arrive at the ‘Privacy Risk Score’ and ‘Safety Score’ for each app. A comparative analysis of the selected apps was performed by studying their privacy policies. The results indicate that adopting these apps pose a risk. Finally, recommendations are provided to consumers such as examining the app before downloading it, customizing the app settings, and to developers to develop robust and transparent privacy policies.
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Privacy of information within mHealth apps may be compromised by malicious hacking, commercial data-sharing practices, or devices being stolen.
“However, there is also growing awareness and concern about the privacy of information within mHealth apps, which may be compromised by malicious hacking, through commercial data-sharing practices [6] [9], or devices being stolen [10].”
From Security and Privacy of mHealth Applications: A Scoping Review (2020) · cites this paper as [6]
Vulnerabilities regarding privacy and security may result in breaching the confidentiality of consumers' data, which can lead to financial losses, discrimination, stress, dissatisfaction, or delays in seeking effective treatment due to perceived privacy risks.
“Vulnerabilities regarding privacy and security may result in breaching the con dentiality of consumers' data [6], which can lead to nancial losses, discrimination, stress, dissatisfaction [23], or even delays in seeking effective treatment due to perceived privacy risks [24], [25].”
From Security and Privacy of mHealth Applications: A Scoping Review (2020) · cites this paper as [6]
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BackgroundPrivacy and Security in Mobile Health (mHealth) Research
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Security and Privacy of mHealth Applications: A Scoping Review
Nurgalieva, L., O'Callaghan, D., & Doherty, G. (2020) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2020.2999934 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
“However, there is also growing awareness and concern about the privacy of information within mHealth apps, which may be compromised by malicious hacking, through commercial data-sharing practices [6]–[9], or devices being stolen [10].”
Background
- Authors
- Sampat, B. H., & Prabhakar, B.
- Affiliations
- Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (IN)
- Venue
- Journal of International Technology and Information Management
- Published
- 2017-12-01
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 126-153
- ISSN
- 1543-5962 (ISSN-L)
- 1941-6679
- OpenAlex
- W2800275840
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 4.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of international technology and information management (publishedVersion)
- CSUSB ScholarWorks (California State University, San Bernardino) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Thoreau and American Literature
- Keywords
- mobile health apps, privacy risks, security threats, privacy policies, sensitive health data, Google Play Store, App Store, app store security
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