Technology

File Sharing Applications & Health IT

File sharing applications can be good ways to download music and photos, but it’s not the best idea when it comes to personal health information. A study ...

Federal News Network Staff

April 26, 2010 8:31 pm

< a min read

File sharing applications can be good ways to download music and photos, but it’s not the best idea when it comes to personal health information. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association found it’s risky for doctors to use them because it makes patient information vulnerable to hackers. Researchers used popular file sharing software to access documents they downloaded from a sample of IP addresses, and they were able to view personal information from the U.S. and Canada.