A CISO’s perspective on a TikTok ban and what it means for enterprises 

The federal authorities is contemplating pushing an outright ban on the video-sharing app TikTok throughout the U.S., simply weeks after banning the app from all U.S. authorities units. Citing information privateness issues stemming from TikTok’s dad or mum firm, the Chinese language agency ByteDance, officers have made it clear that they consider the app might be used to spy on People’ private data and ship that information on to the Chinese language authorities, which is understood for cyber-theft of IR, commerce secrets and techniques and different proprietary data from Western corporations to advance its personal nationwide safety priorities.

Contemplating what to do about TikTok

However for companies that use TikTok for advertising and marketing or make use of any of the 150 million People who’ve the app, what’s to be accomplished? The reply, for now, lies in following fundamental safety hygiene practices for all data-collecting apps, not simply TikTok. 

The truth is that it doesn’t matter what TikTok’s affiliation with the Chinese language authorities is, it’s not the one app that’s able to actively farming consumer information. Snapchat, Google and Meta all reap the benefits of consumer information to extra granularly goal adverts and perceive consumer conduct.

No firm is resistant to cyber-breaches and information theft, a lot of that extremely private information may be doubtlessly uncovered by an adversary. TikTok does information assortment on a big scale due to the scale of its consumer base and present reputation, however typically, should you’re not paying for the app or service, it’s utilizing your information to earn cash.

In fact, the rationale we — and Congress — are having this dialogue proper now’s that, not like any of these social media corporations, TikTok is owned by a international firm affiliated with China. Though we ought to be cautious when utilizing social media platforms, irrespective of who owns them, TikTok is gathering large quantities of data from American shoppers, and we don’t know what that information is getting used for or if a international authorities has entry to the info.

Is BYOD best for you?

This is the reason enterprises that enable staff to convey their very own units into the workplace or conduct work on them — “BYOD” — ought to instantly reevaluate their insurance policies. Extra particularly, they need to make it possible for they’re conscious of the kinds of firm data staff have on their private units, and take the required measures to make sure that data is separated from the remainder of the apps on these units. 

There are controls that organizations can implement to make sure that delicate firm data isn’t being collected by any kind of app, TikTok or not. However typically, employers can not difficulty an outright ban on staff downloading no matter app they’d like onto a private gadget. Organizations can have acceptable use insurance policies (AUPs) that administratively require staff to not use social media, together with TikTok, whereas on firm time, however that isn’t a ban on having the app on the gadget. It additionally doesn’t forestall the app from gathering data, which it does on a regular basis.

Technical options that may be put in on private units to forestall delicate work data from being collected by apps, or, for instance, downloading delicate paperwork from e-mail, need to be arrange, maintained and monitored. That may be costly and time-consuming, and it requires a corporation to have good information dealing with practices in place already, together with classifying data and property and having visibility into how that data is processed and used on staff’ private units. Enterprise safety leaders ought to perceive precisely what data they should defend to make higher danger selections about how that data is dealt with.

What about work telephones?

The choice route for enterprise involved about TikTok’s information assortment practices is to difficulty its personal units to staff, pre-loaded with safety controls that forestall unknown or unauthorized functions from being downloaded. If the group owns the gadget, they will management precisely what’s allowed to be accomplished and downloaded onto the gadget to make sure correct safety protocols are being adopted.

However issuing firm units may also be costly, and enterprises contemplating the choice to buy laptops or telephones for workers need to keep in mind comfort, enterprise imperatives and knowledge safety danger. 

The particular dangers highlighted by the TikTok difficulty should not new however have reached a brand new stage of visibility as a result of app’s unimaginable reputation. Whereas Congress deliberates on banning the app, enterprise safety leaders know that the tough difficulty of information privateness and worker property doesn’t finish with TikTok, and discovering new options shall be crucial as different data-collecting apps rise in utilization. There’s by no means been a greater time for these leaders to convey safety to the entrance and heart of their organizations’ priorities.

Adam Marrè is Chief Data Safety Officer at Arctic Wolf.