Standard Mobile Devices Do Not Comply With Healthcare Security Requirements

As medical service providers increasingly use mobile phones and devices to view medical records and access patient databases, mobile data security has become a growing issue of concern in the healthcare industry.

Medical records contain an abundance of personal information such as name, date of birth, Social Security number, credit-card numbers, and employer information, making these records a prime target for cybercriminals. According to a recent article, between January and May 2012, 29 healthcare security breaches had already occurred, affecting approximately 935,000 individuals.

According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health and Information Technology (ONC), off-the-shelf smartphones in today's market typically meet 40 percent of security requirements called for by HIPPA and MU Stage 2 Standards. On the high end of the spectrum, iPhones and BlackBerrys only achieve 60 percent of the recommended criteria after manual configuration.

Currently, ONC is conducting research that will assist small to medium sized health care provider organizations secure mobile devices that process health data. Mobile security for these organizations is essential, as they may not have an IT department or data security partner to manage their devices and the sensitive information that they hold. Implementing the appropriate security applications for these devices will safeguard against the loss of patient data.

The ONC is also in the process of compiling a list of best practices for various mobile security scenarios. This guide, published later this year, will outline wireless pitfalls such as unsecured WiFi access, email on mobile smartphones and unsupervised "bring-your-own-device" methods. Circulating these best practices throughout a national healthcare network will assist smaller medical service providers in adopting and executing health IT.

When implementing security for mobile devices, healthcare facilities should also consider how to securely dispose of wireless devices once they have reached the end-of-life. Data security breaches can occur even after a mobile device has been retired and medical service providers need to dispose of devices in a way that does not jeopardize patient data. Partnering with a certified mobile phone buyback and recycling company ensures retired healthcare devices are put through a comprehensive, multi-step mobile data deletion process that keeps confidential information secure.

Developing health IT is essential to ensure mobile phones and devices in the healthcare industry remain protected. Hospitals and health providers have a responsibility to their patients to maintain the proper and secure handling of wireless devices. Additional protocols need to be established assuring out-of-the-box smartphones are protected from data breaches.

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Security Is Your Friend When Your Friends Are Secure

So, you run into an old friend at a concert who you haven't seen in years. The music is loud and he or she is in a hurry, so you agree to catch up over lunch next week. Later, you realize that the number you've got is way out of date. Now what?

Why not call a friend who knows your long-lost buddy and get the number from them? Problem solved!

In our personal lives, there's nothing wrong with that. But when it comes to mobile, it illustrates why both you and your long-lost friend need robus security on your phones. Here's why:

Every time you download an app, you grant the developer permissions to access certain kinds of data. A mapping application will certainly ask for permission to access your location data. A communications app will likely need some ability to see your phone or messaging logs. If it's a contact management app, you probably wouldn't think twice about allowing the developer to store contacts from your phone on their servers. For the most part, this is all fairly straightforward and not surprising at all.

What might surprise you is what happens to those permissions when the app you've downloaded has the ability to show ads.

Ad networks are critically important members of the mobile app ecosystem. If it weren't for them, many developers would have no way to make money for all their hard work. What many casual users don't realize, however, is that ad networks get access to the same permissions you've given to the app itself.

The good ad networks (and we mean the vast, vast majority) aren't doing anything with those permissions that you need to worry about. However, there are a few that take advantage of those permissions to send spam messages to your friends, sell their numbers and more.

If you've got a security solution on your phone that is aware of the ad networks that can access your data, your contacts are protected from this kind of nastiness. But what about you?

Remember that YOUR information is likely on every one of your friends' phones. If they don't have a security app like you do, your phone number and social data could be at risk whenever they download an app with an aggressive ad network.

So be a real friend and get your friends to download and use a security app that protects you from bad ad networks. It's good for them... and for you.

TrustGo Mobile Security protects you from viruses and malware, plus risky ad networks that can compromise your data and your privacy.

Download it today for Android at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trustgo.security

Or learn more at http://www.trustgo.com/

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Mobile Banking Security

Any bank or credit union pretty much has to offer mobile banking. This is because the customers demand it, people want the ability to pay their bills and view balances among other things. Very few people, especially the younger generation do banking the old way. Some are even beginning to offer services of uploading a scanned check for deposit.

Because of this, almost any bank, including large or small has some kind of mobile banking. Of course this is great, but oftentimes mobile banking security is neglected as they implement the changes quickly. With banks having a lot of sensitive information, it is very important that security is taken seriously. Not only that, but some high profile banks have been hacked in the past. Banks are a target for hackers, not only for the information they hold, but others do it for political reasons.

Steps have been implemented at most banking websites. Usually they go above the typical user name and password. Some require a code every time you login from a new location, ensuring that you are able to access your personal email or cell phone. This is one step to verify who you are. Others have security questions that you must answer. The answers are supplied when the user signs up. This of course cuts down on problems. Others require a password that is hard to guess, consisting of random numbers and letters, lowercase and upper case. Some even require you to change your password periodically.

Of course the best mobile banking security will be vulnerable, because nothing it truly secure. But if the right steps are taken, it will ensure that the bank will most likely not be targeted. The customer needs to do thinks on their end as well, such as having a good password, not sharing it with others, and using secure connections. It would be very easy for someone to get a banking password at a wifi hotspot. Also the customer needs to make sure they log out of shared machines.

Mobile banking security should not be overlooked. If a site is targeted and successfully penetrated. The bank opens themselves to a lot of liability. Furthermore, when high profile cases make the news, a lot of customers lose confidence in the bank and even close accounts and bank elsewhere. Having customers data exposed is a public relations nightmare and should be avoided at all costs.

If you are tasked with banking security in your company, read more insightful articles on our webpage.

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Mobile Device Security Risks for BYOD Businesses - Implement Responsible Mobile Recycling

Business professionals have come to depend on their mobile phones, tablets and devices as part of their everyday lives. However, according to a recent study, the majority of users are concerned about the mobile security on these devices and confused where they should be looking for help when security incidents arise.

In March 2012, Juniper Networks' first annual Mobility Index commissioned 4,037 mobile device users and IT decision-makers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China and Japan. The study reveals that most mobile users remain skeptical about the safety of their devices and the applications they utilize. According to this study, 63 percent of users are not sure if they should trust that their mobile experiences are secure.

The Bring Your Own Device trend gaining in popularity and because of this IT professionals reported data security breaches on unsanctioned devices as their number one concern. In fact, more than 40 percent of those surveyed indicated that they use personal devices for work without official permission. With nearly one-third of IT professionals reporting that their organization experienced a data security breach as a result of a personal device accessing company data, enterprises need to begin considering mobile security a serious issue.

According to the survey, 63 percent of users hold their service providers responsible for the safety of their private data. The remaining individuals surveyed depend on the device manufacturers and software service providers. However, all parties have a part to play in preventing mobile security breaches. Users have a responsibility to find out what applications they are using and if they are safe. They also need to protect the data on their phone with password protection or remote wiping abilities in the case of theft. Business owners also have a responsibility to put in place a mobile security plan that will protect their employees as well as the company's confidential data.

To avoid giving cybercriminals the chance to hack into corporate networks, enterprises need to address the issues of mobile security and develop a plan to combat these issues. As more people rely on mobile applications, services and networks to handle critical personal and business information, individual users need to educate themselves on the consequences of mobile security while companies need to develop a comprehensive solution that will protect their sensitive corporate data.

An important consideration often overlooked in protecting sensitive mobile data is the responsible reuse and recycling of used devices once they are replaced with a newer technology. Many BYOD enterprises provide employee stipends to purchase their preferred mobile phone or tablet for business use, however they do not have procedures in place to ensure the data on used devices is protected once discarded.

In a recent study, Electronic Retention: What Does Your Mobile Phone Reveal About You?, researchers in the UK investigated the extent to which sensitive information resides on mobile phones after users attempt to remove the information. For the study, 49 re-sold mobile devices were acquired from secondary markets and examined using mobile forensic toolkits. Every device yielded some user information and 11,135 pieces of information were recovered, confirming that substantial personal information is retained on a typical mobile device.

Without a clear mobile recycling policy in place, employees are free to sell the used devices on eBay, Craiglist or online mobile buyback companies that offer little or no data protection guarantees. Additionally, it is essential for a BYOD organization to establish a partnership with a trusted mobile asset recovery and recycling vendor that offers proven, audited mobile data deletion methods and require their workforce to only resell and recycle their used mobile devices through this partner.

Enterprises that establish a secure mobile recycling program will not only benefit financially by recouping the remaining resale value of used mobile devices, but also ensure that their sensitive data does not end up in the wrong hands. For a list of certified electronics recyclers with validate data deletion processes, visit http://e-Stewards.org.

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Security in Mobile Application Development

Today's world is marked by the popularity of mobile application development. Development of these applications has widened the scope of Mobile Phones which were earlier used to make only voice calls. The popularity of Smartphones particularly, iPhones, led to the development of new applications like Internet Browsing, E-Mail, and Games etc. With rapid growth and development of Smartphones and PDAs, mobile technology has entered a golden period. The growth and development of wireless industry resulted in an increase in the requirement of advanced applications. The latest technologies used today are Dot Net, C++ and J2EE and many companies are providing secured applications for different platforms like - the iPhone, BREW, Symbian, J2ME etc.

Mobile companies also faced with the challenge of meeting the growing expectations for innovative and secured mobile applications. The ever changing mobile technology together with growing expectations of customers put an extra pressure on the developers. To stay ahead of the competitors, many companies are trying to create more innovative and portable applications. This has resulted in a trend of outsourcing the mobile application development to the companies that specialize in developing applications for wireless devices.

The list of applications which can be outsourced are: wireless internet security, video and image sharing, gaming, integrated billing solutions, location based services and content management. Companies are engaged in developing applications using leading-edge technologies and tools for providing consistent quality levels and unfailing levels. Developing secured mobile applications involve a range of innovative and dynamic approaches, which can be possible with the help of latest mobile gadgets. In developing applications for mobile devices, the biggest concern is the security on wireless devices. The security in mobile applications is developed with a target of securing phones from various threats like - viruses, malware, OS exploits etc.

There are two types of mobile security risks. One is the category of malicious functionality which can be defined as a list of unwanted mobile code behaviors. Second is the vulnerabilities which are the errors in design that expose the data to interception by attackers. To solve this issue, the developers have implemented a systematic approach to ensure security in mobile applications. There are many resources available on the internet that features case studies, code examples and best practices, to provide security in the mobile applications. One can find a lot of information on how to protect against vulnerabilities in the latest Smartphone and PDA platforms. Below are some steps that can be followed by the developers, to ensure security in mobile applications -

Maximizing isolation by designing authenticated applications.Lockdown internal and external/removable storage.Working with sandboxing and signing and encrypt sensitive user information.Safeguards against viruses, worms, malware and buffer overflow exploits are also involved in the security of wireless devices.Using the Google Android emulator, debugger and third-party security tools for debugging.Configuring the Apple iPhone interfaces to prevent overflow and SQL injection attacks.Employing private and public key cryptography on Windows Mobile devices.Enforcing fine-grained security policies using the BlackBerry Enterprise ServerPlugging holes in Java Mobile Edition, SymbianOS and WebOS applications.Testing for XSS, CSRF, HTTP redirects and Phishing attacks on WAP/Mobile HTML applications.Identifying and eliminating threats from Bluetooth, SMS and GPS services.

With the help of the above guidelines, one can provide security to the mobile and wireless devices. Today's world is very dynamic and competitive and developers need just more than theoretical knowledge to get themselves ready for IT industry.

Mobile application development process at Endeavour concentrates on enabling unthinkable innovative processes in mobile environments. The available data is looked at being mobilized as this approach enables the enterprise to change the way their employees work. As a thorough mobility company, Endeavour never retrieves from thinking as creatively as possible to arrive at a process that is crafted to perfection and is streamlined for that desired functioning of the mobile solution that has been developed.

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