One of the states in the US has banned the use of TikTok and other Russian and Chinese products by its agencies. Lawmakers executed the ban after some news broke out where Chinese-linked actors stole millions from COVID funds in the US.
The state announced that these Chinese-affiliated agencies pose an unacceptable level of cybersecurity risk to any state since there is increasing cyber espionage, surveillance campaign, and data harvesting from these hackers.
Moreover, the state government explained that there might be no more significant threat to their safety and national security than the vulnerabilities that support their daily lives. Maryland has taken decisive action to prepare for and condemns cybercriminal activities.
Furthermore, the state is issuing an emergency directive against foreign actors and organisations that want to compromise them so they can protect their systems.
The directive from Maryland’s chief information security officer includes TikTok’s ban since it is owned by ByteDance, which is in China. Additionally, cellphone manufacturers Huawei and ZTE are included in the prohibition alongside Alibaba, Alipay and WeChat.
Russia’s Kaspersky was also affected by the state’s ban. Hence, Maryland’s agencies must remove all mentioned products from their networks and prevent their use.
The video-sharing platform, TikTok, is disappointed with the latest development regarding the misinformation that antagonises their company.
A TikTok representative has stated that they believe that the concern towards their platform is caused by misinformation. Therefore, they are willing to meet the state policymakers to review and discuss their privacy and security practices to clear their platform’s name.
According to TikTok’s spokesperson, their company is dismayed that many companies, state agencies, universities, and offices using their platform and connecting with constituents will no longer be a part of their environment.
State officials have issued the directive by referring to the FBI Director’s statement that the social platform poses a security threat. In addition, the Security Service’s report regarding the stolen COVID relief benefits was caused by an alleged APT group backed by the Chinese government.
Experts claimed that these bans might increase if more threat actors from China will cause more damage to different industries.
