- TikTok is relatively safe despite some legitimate concerns; most cybersecurity experts believe that risk is no worse than other social media apps.
- TikTok is a popular social media site where users create and share short format videos.
- The app was checked for data mining and privacy concerns.
- Visit the Tech Reference Insider library for more stories.
TikTok is a popular social media app built around a huge library of user-created short format videos. Owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance, TikTok is expected to surpass 1 billion monthly active users by 2021 – making it one of the leading social media apps most with about the same amount of activity as Instagram.
TikTok is relatively safe
Any social media company that has that access is likely to go through a major overhaul – Facebook, for example, has been on fire for its privacy policies throughout its history. But TikTok has caught people’s attention in the last few years. The Trump administration was once again trying to ban the app, announcing that ByteDance had the ability to share the collection of user data with the Chinese government. Even President Biden – as a candidate in the fall of 2020 – described TikTok as a “cause for real concern.”
Many cybersecurity experts recommend keeping this in mind. “Of the major cyber threats facing the average consumer, TikTok is not at the top of the list. Most Americans should be more concerned about credit card fraud and password protection than TikTok,” “Monica Eaton-Cardone, co-founder and chief operating officer of Chargebacks911, said.
Chester Wisniewski, chief research scientist at Sophos, agreed: “TikTok does not pose a greater risk to a user than any other social media sharing application. That is not to say that there is no risk, but it is not. very different from Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. “
Of course, while politicians continue to debate legislative actions against TikTok – Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Rick Scott introduced a bill in 2020 to ban federal workers from using the app on government devices, for example – there is still little evidence of harm. Paul Bischoff, a privacy candidate with Comparitech, was the worst on the climate against the app: “TikTok ‘s threats to national security were largely, if not all, political decorations without any evidence to support them. “
Concerns about TikTok
Despite Bischoff’s criticism nonetheless, worries about TikTok have no merit. Cybersecurity experts point to privacy issues such as data mining, device licenses, and potential threats to national security as common causes for concern.
Data mining
Like any social media app, TikTok collects data about its users – but the extent to which TikTok mines user data is staggering. Aliza Vigderman, a journalist at Security.org, said TikTok can collect as many as 50 types of information from users 13 and older – everything from age, username, gender, and email address to details about your mobile device, message content, and monitor data about your online activities. Because the company shares information with “advertising, marketing, and analytics vendors,” Vigderman assessed that “your information is not secure with TikTok.”
Permissions app
Similarly, many apps require users to agree to allow different aspects of the phone, and TikTok is no different. To use TikTok, a user must allow the app to access the microphone, camera, calls, dashboard and location service. To create content on the app, you obviously need some of these permissions – but others don’t.
National security
In terms of national security concerns, it is unclear whether TikTok poses a threat to the US. Clearly, many U.S. politicians believe that China could use TikTok to spy on U.S. citizens or mine their data, and some worry that data will be handed over to the Chinese government, given that that is legal under Chinese laws. TikTok states that it stores data from U.S. users on servers in the U.S. to protect them from Chinese government requests, but “there is some legal debate over whether or not the company would be subject to U.S. laws. US or China regarding those servers, “Vigderman said.
There is minimal risk for the average TikTok user
All that was considered, “TikTok does not pose particular risks to average users.” That is the assessment of Brian Turner, chief technical officer at Convert Binary. His vision captures the imagination of many other security experts who have assessed the dangers of social media.
Sure, there is the potential to share a huge amount of user data collected by TikTok with partners, but that’s not much different than when using Facebook. Bischoff said: “Yes, there are some risks in disclosing personal information. But anyone who uses a major social network in the last 10 years has taken equal risks. There is nothing to pay for TikTok except it’s owned by China, work makes you responsible for national security or trade secrecy, you might want to avoid targeting yourself and staying off the app. “
How to minimize potential risks of TikTok
While experts seem to largely agree that the risks from TikTok are minimal, the issue is certainly positive. “There has never been evidence of malicious intent from TikTok,” said Reincubate CEO Aidan Fitzpatrick, “but there is a history of security breaches.” For example, TikTok was accused of collecting biometric data from unauthorized young children, and ByteDance agreed to pay $ 92 million this year to settle a class action lawsuit over data privacy claims in in the US.
In general, if you are worried about any potential risks of using TikTok, it may be your best bet not to use the app at all. Nonetheless, there are steps you can take to reduce the digital footprint you leave inside TikTok.
Do not pre-share: Do not use your full name or specify your age. Keep personal landmarks such as street signs and schools out of sight.
Keep your account private: By setting your account to “private” in the TikTok preferences menu, you have to give consent to anyone who tries to follow you, and only your friends can see the content you like. you.
Don’t let other users find you: Basically, TikTok shares your content with the entire app community. To prevent this, you can disable “Recommend your account to others” settings.
Do not allow other users to interact with you: Also in TikTok settings, you can set privacy options like “Allow your videos to download” and restrict “Who can send you direct messages” to friends only.