Privacy isn’t the focus of the push to ban TikTok

Is Russian Forces preparing to Use Nuclear Arms in the Cold War? A Critical Review of the CAO’s opinion on TikTok

The CAO believes TikTok is a high risk to users because of a lack of transparency about how its Chinese parent company handles customer data. The memo states that house staff are not allowed to use the TikTok app on their mobile devices. “If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it.”

US officials have raised concerns that the Chinese government could pressure ByteDance to hand over information collected from users that could be used for intelligence or disinformation purposes. There has been no reported incident of that type of access to date, though independent security experts have suggested it is a possibility.

Ukrainian forces have mounted increasingly intense attacks on Russian forces in the war. The conflict is entering a phase of drone warfare. Russia has begun using Iranian suicide drones to cause damage that is difficult to defend against. NATO is watching for any signs of movement in Russian President Putin’s rhetoric about using a nuclear strike, so we look at what indicators are available to the global community to assess whether or not Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons.

How to Protect Yourself From Disinformation Attacks: An Empirical Analysis of Public Policy Concerning Software Development, Exchange Server Development, and Email Hosting

It’s been discovered that Microsoft Exchange Server is not getting enough development resources, and customers should consider moving to a cloud email hosting service. And new research examines how Wikipedia’s custodians ferret out state-sponsored disinformation campaigns in the crowdsourced encyclopedia’s entries.

The gang Vice Society maximize profits and minimize their exposure by investing too little in technical innovation, so researchers have warned if you’re worried about the threat of ransomware attacks. Instead, they simply run the most sparse and unremarkable operations they can to target under-funded sectors like health care and education. If you want to take care of your personal security, you’ll find a guide to abandon passwords and set up passkeys on your phones and web browsers.

There is more. Each week, we highlight the news we didn’t cover in-depth ourselves. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

The United States is preparing to put a Security Label on Internet-connected Things Devices (SISdware) Prior to a Big Data Loss

Microsoft said this week that some prospective customers had their data exposed because of a misconfiguration. Researchers from the threat intelligence firm SOCRadar disclosed the leak to Microsoft on September 24, and the company quickly closed the exposure. SOCRadar said in a report that the exposed information stretched back to as far as 2017 and up to August of this year. The researchers linked the data to more than 65,000 organizations from 111 countries. Microsoft said the exposed details included names, company names, phone numbers, email addresses, email content, and files sent between potential customers and Microsoft or one of its authorized partners. Cloud misconfigurations are a longstanding security risk that have led to countless exposures and, sometimes, breaches.

There are no easy answers to improve the security dumpster fire that is created by cheap, unregulated internet of things devices around the world. But after years of problems, countries like Singapore and Germany have found that adding security labels to internet-connected video cameras, printers, toothbrushes, and more. The gold seal gives manufacturers incentive to improve their practices and give consumers better understanding of the protections built into different devices. This week, the United States took a step in this direction. The White House is in the process of setting up a labeling scheme that would be similar to EnergyStar. The administration held a summit with industry organizations and companies this week to discuss standards and guidelines for the labels. “A labeling program to secure such devices would provide American consumers with the peace of mind that the technology being brought into their homes is safe, and incentivize manufacturers to meet higher cybersecurity standards, and retailers to market secure devices,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-bytedance-americans-data-security-roundup/

A Top Ten Ten Ten Years After the Florida Mar-a-Lago Event: The Vulnerabilities of Internet Access and Cyber-Security

According to sources, the FBI seized documents at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida that included sensitive information about the United States and its intelligence operations in China. Several risks would be posed by unauthorized disclosures of specific information in the documents. People aiding US intelligence efforts could be endangered, and collection methods could be compromised,” the Post wrote. The information could also potentially motivate retaliation by other countries against the US.

Open internet proponents were relieved when the American candidate beat the Russian in the election to head the International Telecommunications Union. Meanwhile, though, we took a look at the fragility of the world’s internet infrastructure and the vulnerability of crucial undersea cables.

The US has legalized abortion in a way that is promoting a culture of community police brutality, which is a hallmark of authoritarian states. And surveillance is on the rise in soccer stadiums around the world as well. The eight stadiums in use during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for example, will be packed with more than 15,000 cameras to monitor spectators and to conduct biometric scanning.

Rust is making gains in the tech industry, giving hope that a massive swath of common vulnerabilities could eventually be solved by the language. In the meantime, we’ve got a roundup of the most important vulnerabilities that you can—and should!—patch right now.

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-eu-privacy-policy-security-roundup/

The Times Reports On Jack Dorsey, The Cash App, and the Security of the U.S. and other Russian-Intelligence Threats

Liz is having a rough time. Soon after her historically brief stint as the UK prime minister, the Mail on Sunday reported that agents working on behalf of Russia had hacked her personal cell phone when she was foreign minister. The Russian operatives were able to intercept messages between Truss and officials in other countries. The Mail report further claims that former prime minister Boris Johnson and cabinet secretary Simon Case suppressed the breach. Labor Party officials are demanding an immediate investigation into their Conservative opponents. “There are immensely important national security issues raised by an attack like this by a hostile state which will have been taken extremely seriously by our intelligence and security agencies,” Labor Party shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said last weekend. How this information has been leaked or released needs to be immediately investigated, as there are serious questions surrounding why.

Another creation of Jack Dorsey is under scrutiny this week. Sex trafficking in the US isFueled by the Cash App according to a Forbes investigation. Based on police records, “hundreds of court filings,” and claims by former Cash App employees, the investigation found rampant use of the Cash App in sex trafficking and other crimes. The company, which is owned by Dorsey-led Block Inc., maintains that it “does not tolerate illegal activity on Cash App” and has staff dedicated to working with law enforcement. Meanwhile, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says that although rival payment platforms like PayPal provide the the center with tips about potential child abuse facilitated by their services, Forbes writes, “Block hasn’t provided any tips, ever.”

The US Treasury Department has said that US financial institutions have processed over a billion dollars in cyberattacks in the last couple of years. The report landed as a result of a White House summit aiming to combat the rise of a type of software called “rancidware.” Ransomeware is a type of software that allows attackers to hold a victim’s files for a long period of time in exchange for money. The acting director of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said in a statement that attacks by Russian-linked actors are a serious threat to our national and economic security. The amount of payments is already painful, but it does not take into account the other financial consequences of a ransomware attack, which can also affect the price of goods and services.

TikTok, Facebook and Twitter: The Security of Social Media in the U.S. Under Foreign Intelligence and Implications for the Future

“We do know there’s Chinese ownership of the company that owns TikTok. Schumer, the Senate majority leader, told George Stephanopoulos in an interview that there are people in the Commerce Committee looking into that. Where they come out will be decided by us.

The proposed legislation would “block and prohibit all transactions” in the United States by social media companies with at least one million monthly users that are based in, or under the “substantial influence” of, countries that are considered foreign adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

Having TikTok on a device issued by the federal government is about to become illegal under a sprawling spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year released by lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday. It is expected to become law in the coming days to avert a partial government shutdown.

The discussions have been lagging due to the splits in the White House. Some senior national security officials are pushing for an agreement that forces TikTok to fully separate from its Beijing parent company ByteDance. The new protections TikTok is implementing are meant to alleviate some of the concerns about Chinese influence.

“The agreement under review by CFIUS will meaningfully address any security concerns that have been raised at both the federal and state level,” Oberwetter said. Our top national security agencies supervised the development of these plans which are being implemented to further secure our platform in the United States.

What to do with the TikTok app in the U.S. after the Ukraine invasion: A brief meeting of the White House and National Security Council

The article was first published in theReliable Sources newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.

At least 16 states are taking steps to forbid use of the app by public universities and government agencies for marketing and recruiting purposes.

The Senate bill has exceptions for national security interests and activities.

More than 100 million people use TikTok in the U.S., and its ability to create instant viral hits has put it at the forefront of internet culture, despite concerns about data security.

The White House held a call with 30 prominent TikTok creators after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Jen Psaki, then the White House press secretary, and members of the National Security Council staff briefed the creators, who together had tens of millions of followers, on the latest news from the conflict and the White House’s goals and priorities. The meeting followed a similar effort the previous summer, in which the White House recruited dozens of TikTokers to help encourage young people to get vaccinated against Covid.

While the company denies it would ever be used for nefarious purposes, national security experts say China-based businesses usually have to give unfettered access to the authoritarian regime if information is ever sought.

Most drastic measures have not advanced since the efforts lacked political will or the courts have stopped them.

“I think some concern about TikTok is warranted,” said Julian McAuley, a professor of computer science at the University of California San Diego, who noted that the main difference between TikTok and other social media apps is that TikTok is much more driven by user-specific recommendations.

ByteDance: “It is Time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good” a statement from the Chinese senator

ByteDance has a claim that it maintains its operations in the United States independently but there is no easy way to determine whether or not that is true.

It’s usually overblown to how much of a company they know about a user on an individual level, he said.

The Chinese Communist Party has not direct or indirect control of ByteDance or TikTok, OberWEtter said Monday. Moreover, under the proposal we have devised with our country’s top national security agencies through CFIUS, that kind of data sharing—or any other form of foreign influence over the TikTok platform in the United States—would not be possible.”

One possibility is that the committee is satisfied with the steps that TikTok has taken to make sure that the Chinese government does not get access to user data.

CFIUS deliberations are secret and never open to the public. It is not clear when the committee will finish it’s investigation or which way it is leaning.

Canada announced it would also be banning the app on government devices beginning as soon as Tuesday, and the European Commission last week issued its own prohibition on the app on official devices, citing cybersecurity concerns.

Chinese law requires Byte Dance to assist the government and that could mean sharing user data from anywhere in the world.

There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a company, according to a statement from the senator. “It is time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good.”

Putting the U.S. Digital Life in the Hands of Foreign Governments: Sensitivities, Implications, and Possibilities

“It certainly makes sense, then, for U.S. soldiers to be told, ‘Hey, don’t use the app because it might share your location information with other entities,” said Chander. “But that’s also true of the weather app and then lots of other apps that are existing in your phone, whether they’re owned by China or not.”

The ban of TikTok would immediately solve national security concerns since it is a Chinese-owned video app. But such a ban might ultimately put our national security at greater risk. It would sidestep the larger problem of our failure to address concerns over the large amount of personal data collected in our digital lives, especially when it could be used by foreign adversaries.

“The truth of the matter is, if the sophisticated Chinese intelligence sector wanted to gather information on particular state employees in the United States, it wouldn’t probably have to go through TikTok.”

It’s always easy to say a foreign government is a threat and that you are protecting them, he says. It’s not a good idea to politicized it in a way that surpasses the actual threat in order to achieve political ends.

Both Calo and Chander think that banning a communication platform will raise First Amendment concerns even though they are doubtful that an official ban on TikTok would gain much political traction. Calo believes that the conversation could push the policy in a positive direction.

He said that the United States is right in thinking about the consequences of being a target of commercial radio and Internet snooping. “And we should do something to address it, but not in this ad hoc posturing way, but by passing comprehensive privacy rules or laws, which is something that, for example, the Federal Trade Commission seems very interested in doing.”

Lobbying isn’t the only thing that has made some of the bills difficult to pass. It’s much more challenging to impose sweeping regulations on an entire industry than it is to pass a bill governing how the US government handles its own technology.

The tech industry’s largest players have faced a kitchen sink of allegations in recent years. From knee-capping nascent rivals; to harming children and mental health; to undermining democracy; to spreading hate speech and harassment; to censoring conservative viewpoints; to bankrupting local news outlets; Big Tech has been made out as one of Washington’s largest villains.

Tech-big Tech: What the Do We Really Want to Learn from the Times? How TikTok Can Save the World from China’s Big Tech Problem

TikTok’s new server reorganization will not allow Chinese employees to have access to American accounts, according to an official from the company.

Beckerman told CNN on Tuesday that a lot of the concerns are overblown, and that he does not think the problems can be solved through the government negotiations.

In 2019, ByteDance had 17 lobbyists and spent $270,000 on lobbying, according to public records gathered by the transparency group OpenSecrets. By the end of last year the company spent more than $5 million on lobbying, and had doubled its lobbyist count.

It was the biggest internet industry lobbying firm, with spending going up to $20 million. Next was $19 million followed by nearly $10 million for Google. Combined, that’s roughly $49 million in lobbying — almost 10 times what was spent by TikTok’s parent, which nevertheless clocked in at number four on the list.

The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would prohibit Amazon from competing against third-party sellers in its own marketplace, if it were to become law. The House investigation found in 2020 that many of the biggest technology companies were effectively monopolies.

There was a brief chance that a bill that would have forced various platforms to pay fornews organizations a larger share of ad revenues, was about to be passed. But the legislation stumbled after Meta warned it could have to drop news content from its platforms altogether if the bill passed.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/tech/washington-tiktok-big-tech/index.html

Silicon Valley Tech News, Politics, and the Internet: The Role of TikTok in Changing the Digital Media Landscape and the State of the Art

Time and again, Silicon Valley’s biggest players have maneuvered expertly in Washington, defending their turf from lawmakers keen to knock them down a peg.

By contrast, decisions about the rules government might impose on tech platforms have called into question how those regulations may affect different parts of the economy, from small businesses to individual users to the future of the internet itself.

Some of the proposals to revise the tech industry’s decades-old content moderation liability shield could raise First Amendment issues as well as partisan divisions. Democrats have said Section 230 should be changed because it gives social media companies a pass to leave some hate speech and offensive content unaddressed, while Republicans have called for changes to the law so that platforms can be pressured to remove less content.

The cross-cutting politics and the technical challenges of regulating an entire sector of technology, not to mention the potential consequences for the economy of screwing it up, have combined to make it genuinely difficult for lawmakers to reach an accord.

“It’s really important to establishing a Republican brand. The main principle that unite Republicans is standing up to China, according to the professor of political science at UC San Diego.

There are many courses available on social media research and teaching in higher education. Modern communication with its aesthetic, practices, and story-telling has been fundamentally altered by the app.

From an educational standpoint, how are media and communications professors supposed to train students to be savvy content creators and consumers if we can’t teach a pillar of the modern media landscape? While students can certainly still access TikTok within the privacy of their own homes, professors can no longer put TikToks into PowerPoint slides or show TikTok links via classroom web browser. The ability of professors to train their students in best practice for these purposes will no longer be possible due to the use of TikTok. Students can see things that they are learning about in real time on TikTok, as it makes parts of the world more accessible.

The world keeps turning as these states impose their bans, leaving their citizens disadvantaged in a fast paced media world. The media and communications students in states will be at a disadvantage when it comes to applying for jobs, because their peers in other states will be more educated and trained.

It is necessary that professors do research. Social media scholars in these states quite literally cannot do what they have been hired to do and be experts in if these bans persist. While university compliance offices have said the bans may only be on campus Wi-Fi and mobile data is still allowed, who will foot that bill for one to pay for a more expensive data plan on their phone? The answer is no one. While working at home does not preclude a professor from being on campus regularly to show that they are doing their job, professors are also expected to show they are working. It is advisable that any social media professor researching TikTok on campus look at video streaming via mobile data, because it is quite expensive to accidentally go over one’s data limits, and also it is advisable that anyone attempting to research TikTok will have to rely on video streaming via

Lawmakers are looking for their own solutions with TikTok still unknown. On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee stated that they would be holding a March hearing on user safety and security.

Earlier this month, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was reportedly considering offering a bill to ban a broader “category of applications” that could be applied to other apps that pose security risks, according to Axios.

The app, owned by ByteDance, Inc., has been under fire since the Trump administration, when the former president signed an executive order to enforce a nationwide ban of the app, but ByteDance sued and it never went through.

Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in guidance issued Monday that all executive agencies, and those they contract with, must delete any application from TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, within 30 days of the notice, with few exceptions. Within 90 days, agencies must include in contracts that the short-form video app cannot be used on devices and must cancel any contracts that necessitate the app’s use.

A data security plan dubbed “Project Texas” was described at a media briefing by officials at the Los Angeles office of TikTok.

The opportunity to set the record straight was welcomed by Brooke Oberwetter. TikTok will give a presentation to protect US user safety during the March 23rd hearing, according to Oberwetter.

What Will China Do if it Comes to an End? The Case of App Stores, Facebook, ISPs, and Big Data

Apple has a lot to lose if it talks about its relationship with the US and China. Much of Cook’s success at Apple can be attributed to his ability to maintain working relationships with the Chinese government and manufacturers.

Washington is expected to take action. Mira Ricardel, a former White House deputy national security adviser now at the Chertoff Group advising businesses on regulations, said they will see limitations this year. There is an unanimity of view that will lead to something. Here is what that something may look like.

India’s TikTok blockade is permeable. NetBlocks states that there are a few small ISPs that allow access. During a trip to India, the lead developer of the University of Michigan’s Censored Planet project says that he was able to use an app he had downloaded in the US. But the ban has forced many Indian users to turn toward rival services, including from Google and Facebook, and has caused turmoil for influencers who built businesses on TikTok.

The order would have barred app stores from distributing TikTok and then barred cloud providers and internet infrastructure services from doing business with the company. Penalties or fines could have been imposed if they were caught avoiding the order. “We wanted to start at the root, where it comes into the US, and extract it that way,” says Ivan Kanapathy, who was China director for Trump’s National Security Council and is now vice president at policy consultancy Beacon Global Strategies.

The company recently launched a full-fledged charm offensive that has included rapid-fire meetings in Washington with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, new transparency tools on the app and a first-ever tour to members of the media of its corporate campus in the Los Angeles area.

Adam Segal, a Chinese technologypolicy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations said that there was a lot of performative action going on. “It’s a desire to show toughness on China,” he said.

There is a lot of animosity towards social media and it’s easier to remove it from Chinese-owned TikTok than it is from other social media sites.

When it was necessary to have the app out of the United States, Trump pushed to have TikTok put out of business.

The TikTok Appraisal Opens a New Window on U.S. Data Security and Users’ Problems, and Why the Oracle Plan Will Fail

The TikTok officials said on Tuesday that 2,500 people are expected to be hired by USDS who have undergone high-level background checks. None of those hired would be Chinese nationals.

Still, aggregate data, like what kind of content is trending on the app or in what regions certain kind of videos are popular, can be analyzed by corporate employees in Beijing who would need to be granted special permission from the U.S. data security team.

The plan addresses many of the major security concerns U.S. officials have, said Jim Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but that is no guarantee it will be approved.

“The Oracle plan would work,” Lewis said. It’s a pretty standard thing. TikTok has become so emotional, however, that a reasonable solution may not be enough.”

The company has previously said that it welcomes “the opportunity to set the record straight about TikTok, ByteDance, and the commitments we are making.”

Assuming the deal passes muster, though, Segal agreed that it resolves the bulk of the data security concerns by allowing inspections of its algorithm and transferring U.S. user data to Oracle.

Many details about Project Texas have trickled out in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Reuters, but Tuesday’s gathering marked one of the first times the company has given an official briefing on the plan.

TikTok is going to opening centers in Washington, Dublin and Singapore in order to give the public a peek at how the secretive app works.

There was a game of sorts that placed people in the position of a TikTok content moderation person, who would determine if a video broke the rules or not.

Visitors who sign non-disclosure agreements will be able to review Tik Tok’s source code in server rooms, though journalists are not given an opportunity to do this.

What Do We Need to Know in the Age of Big Data? Senator Mark Rubio’s Remark on the TikTok’s Scenario

The content moderation game brought home how hard it is for the thousands of people who have to sacrifice their independence for the sake of the internet’s health, but it was more about the present than it was about the past.

The TikTok’s spokesman hopes Congress will take a more deliberative approach to the issues during the time it takes for Congress to make a decision.

If you want to fly a balloon over your continental airspace with people watching it, what will be the reason for not weaponizing data? Or use an app that’s on the phone of 60 million Americans to drive narratives in society that try to influence political debate in this country?” says Senate Intelligence Committee vice chair Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida.

“There’s no question about the fact that they are trying to gather as much data as they can about all aspects of our country, and even the most minuscule, small items can add up to providing them with more data,” says Republican senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota. There is a lot of data that will never be touched, but it is the small pieces that add up. They are working it. They are patient. But they clearly see us as a threat, and they’re collecting data.”

According to Senator Michael Bennet, none of the suggested efforts were relevant to his concerns.

The Canadian Privacy Protection Law and the Security of Mobile Devices under a Mobile-to-Memory U.S. Decree

TORONTO — Canada announced Monday it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices, reflecting widening worries from Western officials over the Chinese-owned video sharing app.

The Canadian federal privacy watchdog and its provincial counterparts decided to investigate whether the app complies with Canadian privacy legislation.

opposition parties called for a public inquiry into suspected foreign election interference in Canada after recent media reports raised concerns about potential Chinese interference.

Gen. Paul Nakasone said in his testimony that he could influence and turn off the message when there was a large population of listeners.

We have discussed our status in public in a way that ignores what we have achieved and the facts of the agreement. We will continue to do our part to deliver a comprehensive national security plan for the American people,” Brooke Oberwetter from TikTok said in statement.

The Commerce Department has the authority to developmitigation measures, up to and including a ban, to meet the risk posed by foreign linked technologies, under a bipartisan Senate bill that is expected to be unveiled on Tuesday.

Like the US government push to ban hardware and other gear made by Huawei, another Chinese technology giant, US officials are often short on specifics when asked to show public proof of collusion between the Chinese government and ByteDance.

The National Security Agency’s cyber director told reporters in December that they were always looking for a “smoking gun” in these technologies. “I characterize it much more as a loaded gun.”