The National Test Institute for Cybersecurity NTC in Zug has examined the Chinese TikTok app for risks and has come to a conclusion that is anything but reassuring. But the federal administration in Bern doesn’t seem to take the warning from the independent IT security experts too seriously, relying instead on self-responsibility.
The National Testing Institute for Cybersecurity NTC has published a nearly 40-page technical security analysis of the TikTok app (see resources). The auditors recommend taking a critical look at the use of the mobile application, “especially on devices used in a business and official context”. Use should be “limited to the minimum necessary”.
The main findings:
In terms of content, the idea of a national testing institute, according to the NZZ, came from the sector association ICT Switzerland. Stated goal: To increase security in the supply chain of IT products. Time and again there are cases “where loopholes are built into products used, for example, by intelligence services”.
According to the announcement, during their analysis, the NTC experts “made sure that the test conditions were as realistic as possible without any special protective measures”. In other words, they wanted to trick any protection and concealment mechanisms that the developers might have integrated into the app.
The following app versions were examined:
NTC test manager Tobias Castagna told Watson that due to the enormous amount of time and staff, it was not possible to test the app’s functionality down to the smallest technical detail. In other words, no reverse engineering has been done.
The NTC writes:
The NTC report emphasizes that the review is “a snapshot”. Any changes made to the app by the developer before or after could not be captured.
It doesn’t look like that.
The Federal Chancellery advises federal government employees to generally be cautious about using social media apps such as TikTok, the NZZ reports. A newly created leaflet on the subject reads: “Give the apps as few permissions as possible.”
While several European countries, the EU, the US and other partner countries want to play it safe and have banned the TikTok app from companies’ mobile phones, Bern seems to have no reason to act.
The NZZ summarizes the Federal Chancellery’s argument that the valuable company data on company mobile phones would be processed in an isolated environment, a so-called sandbox. This protects this sensitive information from being accessed by the TikTok app.
However, this protection is limited. “The Tiktok application can still access the location data of the company’s mobile phone or private contacts.” In addition, the camera and microphone are not protected by the sandbox.
Source: Watson
I’m Ella Sammie, author specializing in the Technology sector. I have been writing for 24 Instatnt News since 2020, and am passionate about staying up to date with the latest developments in this ever-changing industry.
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