mHealth Application Security and Privacy Concerns a Comprehensive Review of Past Literature

摘要

The use of a smartphone in the delivery of healthcare is called an mHealth application (or app). mHealth apps present the world with an opportunity to transform healthcare delivery, making it more accessible, more affordable, and available anytime and anywhere. mHealth apps create theopportunity for healthcare professionals to engage with their patients, expanding the reach of their practice at a minimal cost. However, despite a wealth of literature found in the academic world about apps, the focus remains on the development, content analysis, design, and testing, witha dearth of information about mHealth apps specifically. The implications for information security and privacy among mHealth app users are unclear and complicated. Users are expected to reveal private and sensitive medical information, while there is still a lack of understanding of the realrisk. The deficiency of a comprehensive survey in this area has motivated us to review the existing literature comprehensively. The aim of this paper is to provide a careful review of the security and privacy issues from the user’s perspective, influencing mHealth app adoption and identifyingthe readily-available legislation that is available to protect the users. All selected articles were published in English between 2011 and 2016. Articles were retrieved from several databases such as Science Direct, MEDLINE Complete, and SCOPUS. From 1,537 found articles, only seven articleswere found to meet our requirements for detail and vigor. This article will shed light on these security and privacy concerns and could provide a guideline for the user of the mHealth Apps.