TikTok: A security flaw exposes personal information of users | Just on the day that we learn that the phone numbers of more than 500 million Facebook users have been discovered and are for sale in a Telegram bot , another security vulnerability is now known in another social network that implies that the personal data of the users are also exposed.
In this case, it is a security flaw that has been discovered in the short video app TikTok, in its "Find friends" functionality , and that according to the security firm Check Point would allow a user with the necessary knowledge to carry carry out the scrapping -that is, the massive obtaining of information- of public data such as the username and profile URL, the profile photograph or avatar ... but also of other more sensitive information such as the telephone number and the configuration of your accounts.
As indicated by the security firm, this information could have been used to manipulate user accounts or to create a database with user information to sell to third parties or with malicious intentions, although it has not been possible to confirm whether this has it been so or not.
TikTok would have already resolved the security flaw, but the data could have already been collected for malicious purposes . According to Check Point alert, the data could be used to deceive users with phishing techniques and take over their bank details, for example. "Our recommendation to TikTok users is to provide as little personal data as possible," says Ekram Ahmed, spokesman for the security firm.
The Chinese social network, for its part, thanked the security firm's researchers for reporting the error. It is not the first time that TikTok has been involved in controversies of this type that concern the safety of users. This same month, another vulnerability was found that allowed users to send messages with malicious links even if they were not contacts on the platform.