Security testing for Android mHealth apps

Mobile health (mHealth) apps are an ideal tool for monitoring and tracking long-term health conditions; they are becoming incredibly popular despite posing risks to personal data privacy and security. In this paper, we propose a testing method for Android mHealth apps which is designed using a threat analysis, considering possible attack scenarios and vulnerabilities specific to the domain. To demonstrate the method, we have applied it to apps for managing hypertension and diabetes, discovering a number of serious vulnerabilities in the most popular applications. Here we summarise the results of that case study, and discuss the experience of using a testing method dedicated to the domain, rather than out-of-the-box Android security testing methods. We hope that details presented here will help design further, more automated, mHealth security testing tools and methods.