TikTok’s chief global security officer (CSO), Roland Cloutier, will step down and move into a strategic advisory role following concerns about how the company is handling user data in the US.
According to Engadget, TikTok has just admitted employees outside of the US can access user data information, although it needs to be “strong cybersecurity authorization and control” from its security team in the US.
Specifically, Cloutier will serve as an advisor on the business impact of TikTok’s trust and security programs. TikTok’s head of security risk, supplier, and customer assurance, Kim Albarella, will temporarily take over as the company’s worldwide head of security.
A TikTok spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that Cloudier does not oversee the group that manages US user data. That department will report directly to CEO Shou Zi Chew.
month, BuzzFeed News-based engineers in China at TikTok’s parent company ByteDance had accessed non-public data about US TikTok users on multiple occasions, from at least September last year to January this year. TikTok said it now stores all of its US users’ data on Oracle’s cloud servers located in the country, and that it is working to remove that private data from the company’s own servers.
In a letter to a group of Republican senators this month, CEO Chew wrote that the company is focused on removing any doubts about the security of American user data.