Secure Mobile Data Collection Systems for Low-Budget Settings

Lack of infrastructures in health care and transportation, combined with the demand for low cost health services and shortage of medical professionals, are some of the known causes for loss of life in low income countries. Mobile Health (a.k.a. mHealth) is an emerging and promising health service delivery concept that utilizes mobile communication technology to bridge the gap between remotely and sparsely populated communities and health care providers. So far, several mHealth applications have been developed and deployed in the field, but many of them do not systematically address the security and privacy issues involved. As sensitive information is stored, exchanged and processed in these systems, issues like privacy, confidentiality, integrity, availability and authentication must be dealt with accordingly. In this paper, we analyze the challenges in securing Mobile Data Collection Systems deployed in remote areas and in low-budget settings, and discuss how one can provide an adequate security solution for such systems.