Make Sure to Protect Your Health Data.

Wearables like FitBit, smart watches, and smart or connected health monitoring devices and their associated apps are popular holiday gifts that collect and store your health data. Despite stringent privacy laws intended to safeguard your personal health information, data breaches are on the rise and can lead to everything from medical identity theft to billing fraud to blackmail.

A 2021 investigation by Consumer Reports found that privacy policies for a number of companies behind health apps left open questions about their privacy practices, and recent research indicates end users do not have full awareness of what their consent entails.

"Your personal health data may include individually identifying information, such as your name, address, age, Social Security number, and location, as well as the places you travel, what doctors you visit and for what medical treatments or services, any diagnoses or conditions, current health status, and more," says Anisa Tootla, executive director of the American Health Information Management Association, Chicago, III.

"If you are setting up a new device for yourself or helping a loved one or are getting rid of an old one, there are ways to reduce privacy and security risks associated with your health information."

* Turn off the location services on your personal cell phone or tablet. This increases the privacy of information about your activities...