Mobile Devices Are Bringing the Doctor to You…Is a Hacker Following Behind?

For a few years, medical researchers have been working on technology to make our medical care safer, more comprehensible, and more accessible. Things like the internet of things-connected devices have included pacemakers that send data readouts to your cardiologist over wifi and glucose meters that tell your insulin pump how much of a dose you need. These connected medical innovations have helped patients around the world. Unfortunately, they’ve already gained the attention of cyber criminals, too.

In the handheld device realm, there have been a wide variety of apps for tracking everything from your weight to your blood sugar readings to your ovulation calendar. With those apps, the user gets their personal information from a separate external source and then logs it into the app to get an overview of their health. Now, however, medical developers have moved towards a more streamlined approach; several companies have created devices that literally interact with the smartphone itself, such as a blood glucose meter that actually plugs into the device’s headphone jack and processes the blood sample on a strip at the end. The phone’s screen then displays the results and stores the information in the associated app.

Now, the medical community has harnessed the power of connected communication with a new approach to affordable and ease of access medical care. Downloadable apps have allowed mobile device users to “visit” their doctors for common ailments and triage services through video chats.

Different app companies employ doctors and nurse practitioners who take appointments or virtual walk-ins for everything from stomach bugs to earaches to the common cold. These apps let individuals see to their own care rather than taking off work, waiting in a doctor’s office for hours, and ultimately finding out that they have a common ailment. They also allow doctors to see their patients and discuss the symptoms, as well as prescribe medications and order lab work from a local facility while deciding if more in-depth, in-person care is warranted.

But where does the hacker come in? IoT medical devices have already been found to be vulnerable to hacking, and aftermarket medical add-ons can suffer the same security flaws. At the same time, doctor visit video apps are a genuine medical visit, meaning that HIPAA regulations apply, medical records are established and stored, insurance claims are filed, and payments are made. Any of those characteristics can open the door to identity theft if they’re not handled carefully especially in the cases of medical data breaches…

TIP: Updating your mobile privacy settings and not connecting your apps to unsecure public Wi-Fi networks is a great place to start when it comes to protecting your sensitive information.

Contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at (888) 400-5530. For on-the-go assistance, check out the free ID Theft Help App from ITRC.