TikTok Collects Too Much Data According To ReverseEngineered App Claims

TikTok Collects Too Much Data, According To Reverse-Engineered App Claims

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An anonymous redditer claims to have reverse-engineered TikTok and found that the popular Chinese social media app collects too much data.

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TikTok Collects Too Much Data According To ReverseEngineered App Claims

An anonymous software engineer recently made the claim that TikTok is collecting too much user data after reverse engineering the controversial app. If true, this could be a cause for concern for the many who use the app, although the claims might not come as surprise to those who have been following the recent TikTok and user data security discussions.

The Chinese app has been on the radar of authorities and tech experts for some time, with even closer attention having been paid recently, due to how popular TikTok has become. Last year, a class-action lawsuit was filed in California against Beijing’s ByteDance Technology – the company that owns TikTok – accusing it of transferring personally identifiable and biometric data to China. Despite a strong official denial from the company, the social media app has also been accused of deleting content that considered to be against the political interests of the Chinese government. Furthermore, concerns over how #BlackLivesMatter and #GeorgeFloyd content was treated by the app raised suspicions once again.

An anonymous researcher recently posted a long explanation to Reddit, describing how and what information the app collects while functioning as a mobile application. While the researcher’s claims don’t paint a pretty picture of TikTok, it is important to note that the mysterious expert, going by the username u/bangorlol, hasn’t provided any proof other than the claim that the reverse-engineering process was carried out. Although, the same person has also helped create a separate subreddit to enlist other security experts to discuss and generate additional reverse-engineering research on TikTok.

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The Allegations Against TikTok

The analysis takes the general opinion that TikTok is nothing more than a “data collection service thinly veiled” as a social networking platform. The researcher claims that the app is collecting enormous amounts of data via APIs. This data might include contacts, information about the phone hardware (including the screen size and memory), other installed apps on a phone, and network-related details (such as MAC address). However, it doesn’t stop there. The researcher also claims that certain variants of the app are also tracking the location of users. The post further alleges that the proxy server the app sets up to transcode media can be abused for additional data collection purposes. The anonymous expert also claims that much of the data logging the app does, is remotely configurable with considerable protections in place, as well as other safeguards to prevent users from knowing what is happening behind the scenes.

If this is all true, then as the Reddit researcher puts it, there is “zero reason” a mobile app would need to know so much about its users. Further claims suggest that the app was not even using HTTPs – a common protocol for secure communications on the internet – for a long time and this has resulted in the leaking of user email addresses. Regardless of whether these claims are true or not, the overall suggestion is that TikTok needs further research by responsible bodies so a greater understanding of exactly what is going on with the app is known. Considering the number of users TikTok now has, and how valuable data has become, this is a matter that deserves the full attention of not just users, but the industry as a whole.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/tiktok-data-collection-tool-reverse-engineered-app-claims/

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