Technology
TikTok secretly tracked millions of Android users — what you need to know – Tom’s Guide
App stole permanent device IDs despite Google rules, report says
The TikTok Android app secretly stole an important ID number from millions of users’ phones and smuggled it past Google’s watchdogs by wrapping the ID number in an unusual layer of encryption, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday (Aug. 11).
The ID number, known as a MAC address, is a unique 12-digit hexadecimal (numerical base 16) code. Every device in the world that uses Wi-Fi, Ethernet or Bluetooth, from supercomputers to to smartphones to smartwatches, has at least one MAC address.
B…
Continue Reading