Last week, we reported on how TikTok, the social media app owned by China-based company, ByteDance, was found to be“clipboarding” data every few seconds on iOS. And while ByteDance may have already rectified the issue, a researcher recently discovered no less than 53 iOS apps doing the exact same thing.
In an interview with Ars Technica, Tommy Mysk, the security researcher who made the discovery, said that these 53 iOS apps were just guilty for indiscriminately clipboarding data whenever they were open. Worst still, the apps in question aren’t merely apps made by some random Chinese startup or developer; The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Viber, and Weibo are just some of the offending apps that Mysk discovered in search. Even mobile game apps such as Bejeweled and PUBG Mobile were also found to be clipboarding its player’s input.
To recap quickly, TikTok was discovered to be clipboarding its iOS customer’s data behind the scene. Initially, the app’s behaviour would’ve gone unnoticed, but that was brought into the light when one user installed Apple’s recently announced iOS 14 beta. Which came with a new clipboard monitoring feature.
Since being called out by Mysk, some of the developers have reportedly vowed to alter the way their apps behave with the clipboarding. However, it remains to be seen if the remaining app developers are going to play ball and change the way their apps uses the feature.
(Source: Ars Technica, Engadget // Image: Flickr via Ars Technica)
