US Navy instructed its soldiers not to use the popular app for fear of information leakage • The reason - Chinese ownership
Ticking // Illustration photo: Reuters
Stop the music: The US Navy has ordered its soldiers to remove the ticketing app from the smartphones provided by the Navy for fear of risk of information leakage. The Navy Ordinance, posted on Fleet Servers Facebook pages, made it clear that anyone who did not remove the app would be disconnected from the Navy’s internal networks.
The Navy's announcement of the risk of ticketing states that the Navy "recognizes a potential risk in using ticketing and urges its personnel to take necessary action to maintain their information." While the Navy announcement does not list the possible risk from the app, the Tictoc-owned Beijing Chinese Bitdance company is considered to be close to the Chinese government - a major US rival that has previously made cyber attacks against the country.
A U.S. Navy spokesman has made it clear that fleet servants are allowed to install civil apps on their cell phones, including social networking apps, but if a particular app is defined as a security risk, the Navy requires its servants to remove it.
Earlier this month, the FBI confirmed that another popular app, FaceApp, poses a danger of spyware. The app, which "refines" the photos it was developed in Russia and according to the Federal Intelligence Agency, along with the extensive permissions the app has requested from its users have led the organization to mark it as a dangerous app.
The letter sent by the FBI to the Senate regarding the Russian app states that "any similar app or product developed in Russia, including Pysap, poses a threat with counterintelligence implications."
According to the FBI, Russian intelligence agencies have "broad cyber exploitation capabilities," which also include advanced Russian server activity with Internet providers around the world.