The European Commission has banned its employees from installing TikTok on their work phones. There will be security concerns about the app, meaning the cybersecurity of as many as 30,000 civil servants is at stake. Security companies also ask companies to warn their staff about this risk: data may be lost to China.
High-tech specialist Paul Verhagen of The Hague Center for Strategic Studies highlighted the main concerns surrounding the cybersecurity of the popular app. “I don’t know if that’s wise or everyone should remove it, but there are serious concerns about safety,” said Verhagen. “For example, is TikTok a vector for Chinese malware? In addition, there are risks in the areas of privacy and espionage.’
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Business
According to Verhagen, it is also possible that data from SME employees will enter China, although there are still few clear indications for this. ‘But the concern is indeed with privacy. Trade secrets get leaked, and China has been looking for ways to bring in Western technology for some time now.’
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It is not yet publicly known whether the Chinese side has managed to get data from the European Commission via TikTok, although Verhagen has the nerve to suggest that the intelligence services may know better. ‘I do not know.’
United States of America
While the subject has lived for a while in the United States, it only now appears to be spreading to Europe. But that’s not surprising, says Verhagen. “It comes from geopolitics,” he said. “Because the United States has decided that China is their strategic rival, and they want restraint on technology.”
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He stressed that a year or two ago, Americans wanted TikTok to sell their algorithm to American companies if they wanted to continue operating in the United States. ‘You also see that the House of Representatives is thinking about it too, Great Britain, you name it. And it’s not just about banning TikTok for companies, but for citizens as well.
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