Several Online Pharmacies Leak Sensitive Health Data to Third Parties

Robin Carlsson, Sampsa Rauti*, Sini Mickelsson, Tuomas Mäkilä, Timi Heino, Elina Pirjatanniemi, Ville Leppänen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedingConference contributionScientificpeer-review

Abstract

As the demand for digital services keeps growing, online pharmacies have become a very important part of essential digital services. When sensitive personal data such as medicine orders are processed, privacy issues become increasingly important. In this paper, we take a look at personal data delivered to third parties in 20 Finnish online pharmacies. More specifically, we study whether the data on prescription medicine orders is leaked out to third-party analytics services. Our findings reveal that 14 (70%) of studied pharmacies send out information about the customers intending to order prescription medicines to third parties, and 7 (35%) of the pharmacies even leak the data about the specific prescription medicine a specific customer is ordering. We also discuss implications of the data leaks and give suggestions on how this alarming state of affairs can be alleviated.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInformation Systems and Technologies - WorldCIST 2023
EditorsAlvaro Rocha, Hojjat Adeli, Gintautas Dzemyda, Fernando Moreira, Valentina Colla
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages164-175
Number of pages12
ISBN (Print)9783031456411
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
MoE publication typeA4 Article in a conference publication
Event11th World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, WorldCIST 2023 - Pisa, Italy
Duration: 4 Apr 20236 Apr 2023

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Networks and Systems
Volume799 LNNS
ISSN (Print)2367-3370
ISSN (Electronic)2367-3389

Conference

Conference11th World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, WorldCIST 2023
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityPisa
Period04/04/2306/04/23

Keywords

  • Data concerning health
  • Network traffic analysis
  • Online pharmacies
  • Web privacy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Several Online Pharmacies Leak Sensitive Health Data to Third Parties'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this