Security News Bites for January 17, 2025
Is TikTok for Sale? Maybe!
Mark Cuban says the number being floated around is more than $300 billion. It is unclear if this is for TikTok US or TikTok worldwide. And maybe Musk might buy it. Given how well he did with his purchase of Twitter, if he does buy it for $300 billion, Cuban might be able to take it off his hands in a year for $30 billion. Credit: Mark Cuban on Blue Sky.
Are All US Mail Cluster Boxes Keyed the Same?
Cryptographer and security pundit Bruce Schneier says that all cluster mailboxes in the Denver area can be opened with a single key. For convenience. Don’t know if this is true nationally, but probably. Assume that US mail is not secure and don’t use it for anything that is important or valuable. Sorry. If you have questions about options, especially for business payments, please contact us. Credit: Bruce Schneier
If You Think China’s Cybersecurity is Better than Ours – it is Not
One of the largest data leaks in China – 1.5 billion records and including names and government ID numbers – were taken from Weibo, multiple Chinese banks and cell carriers. The data was there for the taking – unprotected on an Elastic Search server, meaning someone was mining the data already. The server was exposed for months. Credit: Cybernews
The Supremes Killed TikTok
ByteDance, the parent company to TikTok lost its appeal today to the Supreme Court and barring some last minute miracle (always possible in Washington), TikTok will be illegal on Sunday. The current administration says that it is not going to enforce the ban on Sunday, but that doesn’t make TikTok any more legal. What Google and Apple do is unclear but TikTok says the app will go dark in the US on Sunday. They really don’t have a choice because they have to limit their criminal liability. The incoming administration says they will deal with this in due time, whatever that means. Credit: The Hill
Federal Contractors Need to Take Special Actions Regarding TikTok Ban
For those folks who enjoy TikTok, if it goes away they will be sad, but for federal contractors, there is a legal risk of not dealing with it. In 2023 the feds enacted a new rule for ALL FEDERAL CONTRACTORS (FAR 52.204-27) which requires contractors to remove the TikTok app from any IT device (phone, tablet, PC, etc.) which is used in support of a federal contract. This includes employee owned devices that are used to support federal contracts. Support includes using the device to receive company email in support of a contract. A client shared a letter they received asking the CEO to ATTEST to the fact that they have removed the TikTok app from any and all devices, company or employee owned, that are used to support their contract. Falsely attesting to this opens the company and the CEO to civil and criminal liability. Getting your company involved with civil or criminal litigation with the feds is not fun. If you need help, please contact us.
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