The New “mHealth” Golden Age: What Are the Mobile Security Implications?

Due largely to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we are now living in the golden era of mobile health, or “mHealth,” as it has come to be called. The World Health Organization defines mHealth as the "use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives,” and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines mHealth as “the use of mobile and wireless devices (cell phones, tablets, etc.) to improve health outcomes, health care services, and health research.” But just as the rapid digitization of work and remote collaboration caused by the pandemic shortcut standard security considerations and measures, it is possible that the new era of mobile health has also given security considerations “short shrift.” Researchers at Macquarie University recently concluded “mHealth apps are still far from ensuring robust security guarantees. App users, clinicians, technology developers, and policy makers alike should be cognizant of the uncovered security issues and weigh them carefully.” Our research has found that the security implications on the device side are equally concerning. Join Zimperium and speakers from Children's Medical Center of Dallas and Medtronic as they explore the following topics: ● The vulnerabilities that have emerged as a result of the new mHealth era ● What the mobile attack surface looks like for the use of both mobile devices and mobile applications in a healthcare context ● Current best practices and practical steps healthcare organizations should take to properly safeguard the data being collected and transmitted via mobile devices and applications