DataBreaches.Net

Menu
  • About
  • Breach Notification Laws
  • Privacy Policy
  • Transparency Report
Menu

Two apps with health info found leaking: researcher. Part 1: iFit

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Dissent

Apps that collect and store health-related information are often not covered by HIPAA, but a breach involving the data they collect could be problematic. Today, I report on two leaking apps containing health information. Both of these leaks were reported to DataBreaches.net by researcher Chris Vickery. Part 1, below, is on iFit’s data leak. Part 2 will report on Hzone’s leak of very sensitive information of people who are HIV-positive.

ifit

iFit advertises that its fitness app will revolutionize the way you work out. Its technology is also incorporated in exercise equipment provided by NordicTrack and others.  But  576,274 of its users may not know that their personal health-related information was available for download by anyone.

iFit’s privacy policy describes the extensive types of information about you it collects: name, user name, password, date of birth, current weight, target weight, height, gender, measurement system, activity level, fitness goal, intensity level,  and the retail location where you purchased your iFit® equipment.If you use a credit card to pay for any of their services or products, they ask for your name, address, credit card and credit card-related information. Once you have created an account, you may complete your profile by providing additional personally identifiable Information. And if you connect your Site account with your Facebook account, they will have access to the publicly available information from your Facebook page, and Facebook will have access to information you log through the Site while logged into your Site account through Facebook. And oh yes, when your equipment/device is connected to your account, they may gather information about you and your workouts, such as your heart rate, workout settings, duration of your workout, and the date and time of your workout.

Vickery notified [email protected] of his findings on December 10. When they didn’t respond promptly, he submitted a support ticket on December 11. That seemed to get their attention. They informed him that it was a several-years-old database in a test environment that contained real data.

DataBreaches.net emailed iFit on December 12 to ask for how long the data was exposed/leaking,  whether the database had been accessed by anyone other than Vickery, whether they would be notifying their users, and whether there was any contractor involved in securing the database. iFit did not respond as of the time of this posting.

This post will be updated as more information becomes available. But think about this: would these same data, if held by a hospital or doctor, require a notification? Maybe you may not care about these data types of your health information, but would your employer or insurer be interested? And if so, shouldn’t you care about protecting the information?

Update: Sure enough, right after I post, I receive an email response to my inquiry from their General Counsel:

Thank you for your recent inquiry. Please note, ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. takes data security very seriously. Accordingly, we have retained outside experts to investigate this matter. Please feel free to direct future correspondence to me.

Related posts:

  • Misconfigured database may have exposed 1.5 million individuals’ PHI: researcher (UPDATE2)
  • Thinking about incident response
  • HHS’ Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Security Rule Investigation with Health Fitness Corporation; $227k monetary penalty plus corrective action plan
  • In 2023, Resolve to Fix Your Organization’s Meta Pixel Problem
Category: Breach IncidentsBusiness SectorCommentaries and AnalysesExposureHealth DataU.S.

Post navigation

← ISIS hackers leaks military information in response to Anonymous ‘ISIS trolling day’
Two apps with health info found leaking: researcher. Part 2: Hzone →

Now more than ever

"Stand with Ukraine:" above raised hands. The illustration is in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine's flag.

Search

Browse by Categories

Recent Posts

  • Alert: Scattered Spider has added North American airline and transportation organizations to their target list
  • Northern Light Health patients affected by security incident at Compumedics; 10 healthcare entities affected
  • Privacy commissioner reviewing reported Ontario Health atHome data breach
  • CMS warns Medicare providers of fraud scheme
  • Ex-student charged with wave of cyber attacks on Sydney uni
  • Detaining Hackers Before the Crime? Tamil Nadu’s Supreme Court Approves Preventive Custody for Cyber Offenders
  • Potential Cyberattack Scrambles Columbia University Computer Systems
  • 222,000 customer records allegedly from Manhattan Parking Group leaked
  • Breaches have consequences (sometimes) (1)
  • Kansas City Man Pleads Guilty for Hacking a Non-Profit

No, You Can’t Buy a Post or an Interview

This site does not accept sponsored posts or link-back arrangements. Inquiries about either are ignored.

And despite what some trolls may try to claim: DataBreaches has never accepted even one dime to interview or report on anyone. Nor will DataBreaches ever pay anyone for data or to interview them.

Want to Get Our RSS Feed?

Grab it here:

https://databreaches.net/feed/

RSS Recent Posts on PogoWasRight.org

  • Germany Wants Apple, Google to Remove DeepSeek From Their App Stores
  • Supreme Court upholds Texas law requiring age verification on porn sites
  • Justices nix Medicaid ‘right’ to choose doctor, defunding Planned Parenthood in South Carolina
  • European Commission publishes its plan to enable more effective law enforcement access to data
  • Sacred Secrets: The Biblical Case for Privacy and Data Protection
  • Microsoft’s Departing Privacy Chief Calls for Regulator Outreach
  • Nestle USA Settles Suit Over Job-Application Medical Questions

Have a News Tip?

Email: Tips[at]DataBreaches.net

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

Contact Me

Email: info[at]databreaches.net

Mastodon: Infosec.Exchange/@PogoWasRight

Signal: +1 516-776-7756

DMCA Concern: dmca[at]databreaches.net
© 2009 – 2025 DataBreaches.net and DataBreaches LLC. All rights reserved.