By Katherine Palac / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

Social media has changed the way medical professionals care for their patients. It has become increasingly common for healthcare providers to rely on social media apps as much as they do their stethoscopes. Thanks to these apps, healthcare providers have the ability to connect with patients almost anywhere in the world, at virtually any time. It’s not unusual for doctors and other healthcare professionals to be connected to their social media apps for most of their working day. Although this has revolutionized the healthcare industry and changed the way patients and providers interact, it also has opened new avenues for risk. 

Many users of mobile apps — such as the social media apps myriad professionals have come to rely on — put their trust in the security of those applications. They believe that their sensitive information is being properly stored and handled to keep it safe. This is especially crucial in the healthcare sector, where patients’ privacy is of the utmost importance. However, using mobile apps to share information between patients and healthcare providers brings with it an element of risk.

Because, even the most sophisticated and well-designed mobile apps on the market today still can have hidden flaws that may be exploited by criminals. Hackers focus all of their attention on finding any potential cracks in the architecture of a mobile app that they can use to break into it. Once they force their way into a mobile app, they can turn those apps against their users, stealing sensitive information, spreading malicious code or viruses, and taking users’ identities. Even outside of the medical sector, the results can be devastating for users and businesses. Although the average mobile app developer spends nearly $1.8 million per year on security for mobile apps, hackers and cybercriminals continue to scour them for vulnerabilities.

This is why it’s important for healthcare professionals — as well as any other type of professional who relies on mobile apps — to understand the most common types of security threats for mobile apps and how to deal with them. With a basic level of knowledge about how these threats work and how they can affect mobile app users, professionals can recognize these threats before they have an opportunity to cause serious harm. This information can help mobile app users shield themselves — or at least minimize the damage these threats can cause. The following slideshow details some of the most common security threats for mobile apps and how users can protect themselves.

Katherine Palac is director of marketing at Column Information Security.