The cyber security specialist Zak Doffman recently explained in an article for Forbes why Tiktok users must unlink their telephone number of their social network account.
The founder of Digital Barriers - company that seeks advanced surveillance solutions for defense, national security and fight against terrorism - revealed that the platform can use the linked numbers to monitor online.In addition, hackers could access private information through the number.
Check Point Research Research
This vulnerability was detected in January by Check Point Research experts."I see significant risks for privacy in which users give Tiktok their phone number as an account identifier," said Ekram Ahmed, a company researcher."Telephone numbers can be a very powerful data source to track the location," he said.
In its report, the computer security company explained that a server vulnerability would have allowed computer pirates to consult the Tiktok database, obtaining private information, linking telephone numbers to the accounts.This could have been used to collect private contact information or to create a file with user data, which, apart from phone numbers, included "nicknames, profile photos, unique user identifications, as well as certain configurationsAccount, "said Oded Vanunu, from Check Point.
In addition, he pointed out that "in general, vulnerabilities of this type can exist on many digital platforms", however, with the huge number of people who install Tiktok, "the implications are high.""In cyberspace the race for quality data is there, being able to consult the Tiktok database is a great track for bad actors, which allows them to skip the protections of the applications and consult the 'data lake' of theUsers, "he added.
Applications such as Tiktok, Instagram and Snapchat use the phone number to link a user's profile with those of the people he knows, suggesting accounts to continue, improving their viral appeal."It is not worth giving Tiktok, Instagram or any other platform its number to speed up the search for friends, since the short -term comfort will probably change for serious violations of its privacy," Ekram Ahmed said.
The researchers declared that it is safer to use an email for the start of the session on social networks and avoid the functions of 'finding your friends'.
How to delete the Tiktok phone number?
Eliminating your Tiktok phone number is a fairly difficult task, according to experts.Although it is not mandatory to add a number when configuring the account, once the user has done so the only way to delete it is "to contact the assistance service to help you with that change," explained a network spokesmanSocial."We continue to explore ways to facilitate users to make these changes in the application," he added.
For his part, Ahmed stressed that "the enormous difficulty that a user must pass to eliminate his number from his account" should be a reason more than enough for anyone to give the platform their phone number.
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