Healthcare App Security Measures

During healthcare app development, it is important to understand the need for healthcare app security measures. Healthcare apps are now found in every smartphone, and technological devices are prone to digital and cybersecurity threats. Smartphones are no longer used for only calls or messages. 

Such devices are used for complex day-to-day tasks. Phones and devices now have people’s personal information and details. Moreover, people can expose their sensitive personal and medical data to third parties. Because of the evolving cybersecurity landscape, apps, including healthcare apps, are open to malicious virtual threats that have real-life repercussions.

To ensure that users use healthcare apps smoothly and without any risks, it is important to implement healthcare app security measures. In this blog, you will learn about the risks that healthcare app development faces and how security layers can protect custom health apps from cyber threats.

Healthcare Market Insights

In the healthcare app development market, the security and safety of users are a main concern. People using the top healthcare apps in the USA are vulnerable patients and primary caregivers. Therefore, ensuring the security of the app portal is very important. When a survey regarding healthcare app security was conducted, it was found that 81 percent of users felt that the healthcare apps that they were using were very safe and had data privacy. 

Fifty-six percent of users place their confidence behind healthcare organizations that use health apps to offer healthcare services.  However, the threat of data theft and privacy breaches still remain. Medical data, when sold on the dark web, brings $500 in profits to illegal sellers. It is important to know that across all app-using industries, almost 50 percent of app-owning entities do not have the budget for mobile app security. 

97 percent of healthcare apps are open to top security risks today. This is also true in the case of healthcare mobile app development. It is time to understand the most common security risks in the healthcare app development sector and mitigate them with appropriate security layers.

Common Healthcare App Security Risks

Custom healthcare app development professionals usually face some common risks that come up during the security layer development for custom healthcare apps. For the inclusion of updated security provisions in the healthcare app infrastructure, the healthcare app development team has to look at the risks that exist around healthcare apps in the virtual landscape.

Data Breaches

Patient data and EHR are sensitive data sets that are prone to security risks such as data breaches. The leakage of data is a cybersecurity hazard that a healthcare app development company has to look at objectively to solve. When the security layers of the healthcare app are not secure and have vulnerabilities, hackers can access the application layer and steal patient health information.

PHI is confidential and should only be available to authorized users in an ideal situation. The custom healthcare app development team has to look at ways of securing PHI with access control systems and user verification systems in place.

Unauthorized Access

One of the common and most dangerous cybersecurity issues that might exist around custom healthcare software development solutions is unauthorized access to the app. When the authorization system and patient verification system do not work properly, the risk of unauthorized access and breach of privacy are present. The unauthorized access problem can arise from the back end or the front end if the access systems do not have multiple layers and modes of verification.

Insecure Communication

Healthcare apps like telemedicine apps also integrate with telecommunication abilities over the internet. The use of telecommunication through calls and messages between the patient and doctor facilitates the exchange of sensitive information between two parties. The communication channels are crucial for the proper exchange of diagnostic and treatment information. 

However, if the healthcare app security around the communication channels is not tight, then the calls and messages can go through illegal interception. The tapping of calls and messages by third parties and eavesdropping on conversations digitally is a breach of patient privacy and medical confidentiality. Therefore, it is important to make the communication portals secure during healthcare app development.

Insecure Data Storage

At the time of healthcare app development, the best healthcare app development company also creates a data repository to add EHR access to the features. With the use of EHR, doctors can improve the quality of healthcare that they offer virtually. EHR integration requires a strong, flexible, and secure database that keeps all the patient health information in one place. 

However, when the database is not secure and the files lack encryption, the PHI files become prone to data theft. For this, the healthcare app development company needs to take up blockchain healthcare application development so that the EHR is stored in a decentralized database, which is very difficult to breach.

Third-Party Integrations

A healthcare app development team might also integrate third-party APIs and extensions with the custom health app to add more features and abilities. The third-party integrations are an interface between external additions to the internal infrastructure of the healthcare app. It is possible that such APIs are not fully secure and create cybersecurity risks for the app user. To ensure that there are no data breaches, the healthcare app development team needs to take up HIPAA-compliant app development that secures the app product from all sides.

What Are The Security Measures To Take For Healthcare App Development?

In the process of custom healthcare app development, the company in the USA focuses on multiple security measures that create a very secure and safe healthcare app for the user base. Here are some basic security measures to include during the healthcare application development process.

Meeting Regulatory Compliance Standards

In every region and country, there are some industry standards and rules that govern the use of digital healthcare services. For healthcare mobile app development services, you need a custom health app development company that understands and adheres to the legal framework that governs the healthcare app development sector. 

The custom health app that comes out should be compliant with national and international health industry standards. For example, the healthcare app should be compliant with the HITECH Act, which aims to improve the safety of healthcare app usage and the quality of services that people get from it. 

The healthcare app development team should also take up HIPAA compliant mobile app development to meet the standards set by HIPAA. HIPAA protects the sensitive patient health records that are stored in healthcare apps. Apart from this, custom healthcare software development services should also adhere to GDPR to ensure data privacy protection for patients. 

Another universal regulation that is important for healthcare apps is adherence to PCI DSS. PCI DSS maintains security firewalls around credit card information and payment information that people exchange over healthcare apps. When people make transactions to schedule a doctor appointment or to order medicines, their financial information remains under the protection of the PCI DSS rule.

Data Encryption

While the development of healthcare application software is in progress, the custom healthcare apps development team has to apply data encryption techniques. Data encryption for sensitive patient data and medical data helps secure the information through encryption keys. Encryption keys ensure that the information can only be decoded by secure checkpoints and not by malicious agents. 

Data encryption is used in secure databases and telemedicine apps. Data encryption algorithms ensure that the data exchanged during calls and chats remains secure and hidden from third-party intruders. When the data goes through encryption, it becomes unreadable to other parties that do not have the exact encryption key to decode the information. For custom mHealth app development, healthcare mobile app developers use advanced data encryption methods.

Multi-Factor Authentication

A company offering secure services for healthcare app development in India also focuses on building code for multi-factor authentication or MFA. MFA helps create multiple security layers before the application layer so that only authenticated users can access the app information. MFA comes with personalization so that each patient can control how he or she accesses the app. 

From facial to voice recognition, or biometric authentication, to the use of passwords and native security systems, multiple factors create the whole access system to add highly secure layers around the healthcare app. When the custom medical app is accessed by patients from a particular hospital, it can ask for a patient registration number. For healthcare professionals, the app login interface can include an employee identification number for unique authentication.

Conclusion

For custom healthcare app development, a custom healthcare app development company in India cannot ignore the inclusion of robust security measures. A company like Comfygen uses cloud security measures, blockchain security provisions, and security testing cases to ensure that the healthcare app product is safe for launch and usage. 

Healthcare app security measures evolve with time and the development of technology deployed in healthcare app development. Ensuring patient data security, medical professional profile security, and nullification of cyber threats is important for the long-term success of a custom healthcare app. Periodic security testing and penetration tests also play a major role in making a healthcare app very secure for its user base.