Data security has recently become a major concern, and new research suggests that the applications on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok’s iPhone apps can track anything that the user types in the browsers. According to researcher and developer Felix Krause, it will not be difficult for the apps to track sensitive data such as credit card numbers or passwords.
Because the applications are capable of storing the information typed in by the user, any link opened in the in-app browser is vulnerable to a data breach. As a result, both the TikTok and Meta apps can easily store credit card information, shipping addresses, and other pertinent information. TikTok has recently come under fire due to data breach concerns, with FCC commissioner Brendan Carr urging Apple and Google to remove it from app stores.
According to the New York Post, Carr wrote in an open letter, ‘TikTok collects everything from search and browsing histories to keystroke patterns and biometric identifiers, including faceprints… and voiceprints’. Carr referred to it as a ‘sophisticated surveillance tool that harvests vast amounts of personal and sensitive data,’ and warned that it could pose a serious threat to national security.
Krause explained in the research paper that TikTok ‘subscribes to every keystroke (text input) happening on third-party websites rendered inside the TikTok app’. Instagram, on the other hand, can access user information by ‘injecting a JavaScript code into every website shown’.
Krause was accused by TikTok of making false statements about the company. ‘ The researcher expressly states that the JavaScript code does not imply that our app is malicious, and admits that they have no way of knowing what kind of data our in-app browser collects,’ a spokesperson said.
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