The federal government's efforts to protect US citizens' sensitive data took on new urgency this week, as the Washington Post reported that the phones of more more than 50 top level government officials had been infected with sophisticated spyware.
Also this week, President Biden issued an executive order banning US government agencies from using spyware that is deemed a threat to US national security or is implicated in human rights abuses.
In addition, a bipartisan effort is underway in Congress that would give the federal government the power to ban foreign made hardware and software deemed to be a threat to national security, including (but not limited to) the popular Chinese-owned social media app, TikTok.
But, why is TikTok being singled out for such intense scrutiny? Don't all mobile apps do the same thing? Shouldn't we all be concerned about the spies we carry around in our pockets?
We talked about it with Computer Information Systems Professor, and Cybersecurity expert, Dr. John Nicholas, from the University of Akron.
Dr. John NIcholas, University of Akron