TikTok's global chief security officer, Roland Cloutier, who oversees cybersecurity, is stepping down from his role but will stay at the company, according to a memo on TikTok's website.
Cloutier, who is based in Florida, said his move followed recent changes to the security teams at the video-sharing app, which is owned by Chin's ByteDance and is facing growing scrutiny from U.S. regulators about the use of personal data. " With our recent announcement about data management changes in the U.S., it's time for me to transition from my role as Global Chief Security Officer into a strategic advisory role focusing on the business impact of security and trust programs, working directly with (CEO) Shoo, (ByteDance VP of Technology) Dingus and other senior leaders, "Cloutier wrote in the memo. Cloutier was brought in two years ago to help TikTok handle traditional cybersecurity issues, as well as data security issues unique to TikTok due to its Chinese ownership. However, TikTok has been reshuffling its global security team and moving China-specific security issues, including influencing it from ByteDance, to more localized teams.
It recently announced a dedicated U.S. data security team known as “USDA” as a gatekeeper for U.S. user information, minimizing China's access to data. The company is discussing structures where the team operates autonomously and is not under the control or supervision of TikTok, Reuters previously reported.
Headquartered in the United States and Singapore, TikTok is considering deploying similar data security teams in other regions, including the EU, according to sources.
The company hired Cloutier from payroll company Automated Data Processing Inc (ADP) in 2020.
Kim Albarella, Senior Member of TikTok's Security Team, will be Interim Head of Global Security. Alvarella previously worked for ADP for over 10 years. TikTok is getting more and more questions from US senators about the security of data for US users, and some are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
In June, TikTok announced that it would begin transferring data from U.S. users to Oracle servers, alleviating concerns that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, would have unlimited access to that information in China : Did TikTok CEO Shoo ZI Chew and ByteDance Vice President of Technology Dingus Hong said the change not only "minimizes concerns about the security of user data in the United States, : "but also"global chief security officer (CSO). We will also change the permissions. ' Role. '
A TikTok spokeswoman said WSJ Cloutier wasn't involved in leading a new division of TikTok that handles the processing of user data in the United States. She is Severalareached, dass diesel organisatorische Wander sch on Donate in Albeit war, before US-Poitiers Ticket unheated
For years, TikTok has been scrutinizing its relationship with China-based ByteDance, and some U.S. officials have accused the app of leaking American data to the Chinese government. Last month, BuzzFeed News published a report claiming that TikTok employees in China had "repeated" access to data from users in the United States from at least September 2021 to January 2022.
In response to this report, a group of Republican senators wrote to TikTok at a hearing last October asking about the validity of the company's, privacy statement. Earlier this month, TikTok addressed these concerns and reaffirmed its plans to work with Oracle to :" fully protect user data. "
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