A CISO's perspective on a TikTok ban and what it means for businesses

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The federal government is considering imposing an outright ban on video-sharing app TikTok in the US, just weeks after banning the app from all US government devices. Citing data privacy concerns stemming from TikTok's parent company, China's ByteDance, officials made it clear they believe the app could be used to spy on Americans' personal information and provide that data directly to the government. Chinese, which is notorious for its cyber-theft of IR, trade secrets and other proprietary information from Western companies to advance its own national security priorities.

Thinking about what to do about TikTok

But for businesses that use TikTok for marketing or employ one of the 150 million Americans who have the app, what should be done? The answer, for now, is to follow basic security hygiene practices for all data-collecting apps, not just TikTok.

The reality is, regardless of TikTok's affiliation with the Chinese government, it's not the only app that can actively mine user data. Snapchat, Google, and Meta all leverage user data to more accurately target ads and understand user behavior.

No business is immune to cyber attacks and data theft, so much of this highly personal data can potentially be exposed by an adversary. TikTok collects data on a large scale due to the size of its user base and its current popularity, but usually if you don't pay for the app or service, it uses your data to make money .

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Of course, the reason we – and Congress – are having this discussion right now is that, unlike all of these social media companies, TikTok is owned by a foreign company affiliated with China. While we should be careful when using social media platforms, regardless of who owns them, TikTok collects massive amounts of information from US consumers, and we don't know what this data is used for or if any government stranger has access to the data.

Is BYOD for you?

That’s why companies that allow employees to bring their own devices into the office or perform work on them – “BYOD” – should immediately re-evaluate their policies. Specifically, they should ensure that they are aware of the types of company information that employees have on their personal devices and take the necessary steps to ensure that the information is segregated from the rest of the applications on these devices.

There are controls that organizations can put in place to ensure that sensitive company information is not collected by any type of application, TikTok or not. But generally, employers can't outright ban employees from downloading the app of their choice onto a personal device. Organizations can...