Consider these risks.
By David Barton, Chief Technology Officer
TikTok, a very popular app that shares videos, is under fire – for good reason. It seems, from the moment you install it, the TikTok app starts to gather massive amounts of data tracking the users’ every move. While their data practices are similar to other apps like Google and Facebook, the Chinese owned TikTok has free reign to use your data – you opted in when you installed the app.
“The problem here is not the quantity of data that’s being collected, but rather who else can access it. And those problems exist on the end of data transmission that no one but TikTok can see,” said Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerability research at Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., who discovered a security hole in the app last year that has since been resolved.
This has led companies like Amazon, Wells Fargo, and political organizations such as the RNC and DNC to ban their employees from using the app. This is not a political issue, but one of data. TikTok tracks the websites you browse, how you type including your keystroke patterns and rhythms, your IP addresses and GPS coordinates. Most recently, researchers found that TikTok had access to the words and images users had cut and paste on their devices, whether it was an innocuous shopping list or sensitive passwords.
Is TikTok the only app that gathers users’ data – no. Is it the only app that has ties to the communist Chinese government – no. It is, however, one very popular app that has access to most if not all of your personal information that is directly owned by the Chinese government. I strongly recommend you remove the app from your phone – the risk is just too high in my opinion!
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