The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called on the attention of the general public to the increasing risks of data breaches through mobile applications (apps) on phones.
According to the Agency, it has become more worrisome as current researches further revealed that large numbers of mobile health applications are found to encourage data theft, thereby infringing on your privacy.
The mobile Health applications, mostly available on android platforms and downloaded through Google Play Store, sends increasingly sensitive data over unsecured Internet communications and third-party servers.
These sensitive data collected has posed security threats to users as most of these apps do not only access data but also share accessed data with third parties.
Therefore, the NITDA has invited the general public to take certain precautions to prevent privacy and security risks while using mobile health applications.
These precautions include users, avoiding app download from a third-party source, users examining apps before download, to understand the level of information the app requests.
This can be done by evaluating reviews by other app users, users should read apps permissions before and after installation to protect themselves from data exploitation.
Other precautions say users should ensure be apps available for download in Nigeria and also have a privacy policy that is Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR)-compliant.
More so, users can customize their settings which will potentially restrict the amount of information disclosed to the apps.
Users must also consider downloading apps that offer better privacy protection and prohibit accessing data over unsecured Wi-Fi networks or hotspots and lastly, Install firewalls and anti-virus to protect against virus malware-based attacks and malicious applications.
For further enquiry, contact can be made to the Head, NITDA Computer Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) on cerrt@nitda.gov.ng, support@cerrt.ng, or 08178774580.
