Analyzing security issues of android mobile health and medical applications.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

We conduct a first large-scale analysis of mobile health (mHealth) apps available on Google Play with the goal of providing a comprehensive view of mHealth apps' security features and gauging the associated risks for mHealth users and their data.

Materials and methods

We designed an app collection platform that discovered and downloaded more than 20 000 mHealth apps from the Medical and Health & Fitness categories on Google Play. We performed a suite of app code and traffic measurements to highlight a range of app security flaws: certificate security, sensitive or unnecessary permission requests, malware presence, communication security, and security-related concerns raised in user reviews.

Results

Compared to baseline non-mHealth apps, mHealth apps generall

SUBMITTER: Tangari G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8449631 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature