Well, do you have the Tik T.O.K app?
It is wildly popular these days,
but before you use the social media site,
did you actually read the pages
and pages of Tik toks terms of
service and privacy policy?
Marcella Lee from our sister station
in San Diego spoke to cybersecurity
experts who say you're potentially
handing over all of your personal data.
Is there a safe
way to use it? Personally,
I would not touch Tik T.O.K.
You've heard it before.
Don't trust Tik T.O.K.
We're looking at Tik T.O.K.
We may be banning Tik T.O.K
in 2020. Then President Trump
threatened to ban the app owned by
Beijing based byte Dance. And just last
month we collect certain information
about the device you use to
access the platform. Podcaster
Joe Rogan read off tick tocks terms
of service and the clip went viral.
App and file names and types.
So all your apps.
And all your file names,
all the things you have
filed away on your phone,
they have access to that.
Is this really what you were agreeing
to when you do what most people do and
quickly scroll through the terms of
service so you can start using the app,
we want to know is what he said true?
Oddly enough,
I don't typically agree with Joe,
but he is absolutely spot on, correct.
As it relates to Tiktok,
it is from my perspective a clear
and present danger in terms of the
amount of data that is collected.
It has elements within its terms
of service that allowed Tik T.O.K.
Share the information collected with
anybody and everybody that they choose to,
up to and including potentially,
agencies within the Chinese government. Matt
Stamper is chief information
security officer for Evotec,
author of data privacy Program Guide,
and serves as a Co chair for the
San Diego chapter of Infragard,
a partnership between the
FBI and the private sector.
Matt Stamper says while you may have
ignored all of the warnings until now,
it's important for you to know what
you're giving tick tock access to.
Including your geolocation related data,
browsing and search history,
your IP address, mobile carrier,
model of your device,
device system,
and app and file names.
You're
effectively giving them everything
that you have on your phone,
and they can use it for whatever
purposes that they decide. But
is that everything on your phone, or just
the way the terms of services are written
when you're using other applications?
They know your files, they know
your data, you know your contacts,
and, he says, perhaps the most nefarious
data you might be handing over. Is this
keystroke patterns and rhythms?
That's a euphemism for keystroke logging.
There are systems in place that
would allow them to potentially
get information like what keyboard
inputs you're doing or what buttons
and links you are clicking.
Software engineer Felix Kraus recently
shared these images on Twitter,
stating tick Tock,
when opening any website in their app,
injects tracking code that
can monitor all keystrokes,
including passwords and all taps.
This is how a lot of
attacks end up occurring,
where you can guess somebody's.
User name or password by
what they're putting on their
phone or how they're inputting
detail into the UI or the
browser or the application.
Some people
might not care. They might think I'm just
a regular individual sitting at home.
I want to post goofy content,
but what is the risk to national
security? It's not just your
information that they're collecting.
They're also using what's in your profile,
your contacts and other
kind of files and data.
And so let's say you know somebody
that works in law enforcement.
National security there's a
risk of things like doxing,
where the identities of people
that work in specialized areas
are effectively conveyed.
Stamper points to this recent cyber
advisory from the House of Representatives
Chief Administrative Officer.
It says Tik T.O.K is a Chinese owned
company and any use of this platform
should be done with that in mind.
It calls the app high risk because of its
terms of service that state it may collect
biometric identifiers and information,
including face prints and voice prints.
We do not recommend the.
Download or use of this application due
to these security and privacy concerns.
I think until there's a publicized
case where data taken from Tick Tock
ends up compromising national security,
a lot of people may not listen.
I think there are cases I I don't
know how well publicized they are,
but I think there's there's.
Enough inference and enough risk,
both from a legal perspective as well
as from a functional perspective.
That would suggest that Tik T.O.K
is probably not an application
that should be widely used.
It's not on my phone.
Lee reached out to Tik T.O.K
through their media inquiry page.
A Tik T.O.K spokesperson emailed her back.
They addressed software engineer
Felix Krause's research which
states Tik T.O.K has tracking
codes that can monitor keystrokes,
a tick Tock spokesperson told her in part.
Quote contrary to the reports claims,
we do not collect keystroke or
text inputs through this code,
which is solely used for debugging,
troubleshooting and performance monitoring.
The spokesperson also gave several
links to statements they say.
Refute all of these claims,
all of which we've put on our website,
ktvb.com.