8 in 10 health apps have significant security vulnerabilities

More than 8 in 10 (84 percent) of U.S. FDA-approved health apps tested by IT security vendor Arxan Technologies did not adequately address at least two of the Open Web Application Security Project top 10 risks, according to the firm's 5th Annual State of Application Security Report. 

Most of the mobile health apps were susceptible to application code tampering and reverse-engineering--95 percent of the FDA-approved apps, and 100 percent of the apps formerly approved by the U.K.'s National Health Service, lacked binary protection, which could result in privacy violations, theft of personal health information and tampering.

Arxan discovered a wide disparity between consumer confidence in the level of security incorporated into mobile health apps and the degree to which organizations address known application vulnerabilities. While the majority of app users and app executives said they believe their apps to be secure, nearly all the apps Arxan assessed, including FDA-approved health apps, proved to be vulnerable to at least two of the top 10 serious security risks.

Arxan's research analyzed apps from the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan.

“Mobile apps are often used by organizations to help keep customers ‘sticky,’ yet in the rush to bring new apps to market, organizations tend to overlook critical security measures that are proving crucial to consumer loyalty,” said Patrick Kehoe, Arxan's CMO. “Our research demonstrates that mobile app security is an important element in customer retention. Baking in robust mobile app security is not only a smart technology investment to keep the bad guys out, but also a smart business investment to help organizations differentiate from the competition and to achieve customer loyalty based on trust.”

Access the complete report.