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County In Pennsylvania Bans TikTok: Authorities

One Pennsylvania county is banning TikTok, at least on official county devices, authorities announced on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. 

The TikTok app loading on a cellphone.

The TikTok app loading on a cellphone.

Photo Credit: Pixabay/antonbe

TikTok "and other malicious cyber based systems," have been banned in Lancaster County because "harvesting software, poses a significant risk to the cyber security of the County," Lancaster County Commissioners Office Communications Director Michael Fitzpatrick states in the release. 

The concern is the site or application "capturing data on a user’s internet activity and sensitive information.," according to Fitzpatrick. 

The Chief Information Security officer in coordination with the Chief Information Officer and the Board of Commissioners "anticipate new threats and actively work to prevent them from occurring by establishing and updating directives, policy, and procedures. In doing so, they carefully examine any software that can be downloaded onto County devices and prohibit any software that poses a cyber security threat."

“Taking threats to cyber security seriously is imperative to continuing good governance in Lancaster County” said Commissioner Ray D’Agostino “I want to thank our Information Technology Department for keeping county operations, employees and those who interact with our network, safe”.

The policy is applicable to all County issued devices, including desktops, laptops, servers, tablets, cellular phones, or any other information processing asset— including any and all devices connected to the County of Lancaster network for the purpose of accessing County of Lancaster data or services.

The list of the other banned applications and websites was not shared. Daily Voice reached out to Fitzpatrick and was told "Our IT department cannot publicly release its security policies, however, the other prohibited software and applications align with the pre-existing Federal and State guidelines."

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