Governor Little recently acted ahead of the federal government to ban TikTok to protect national security and Idaho data. This requires immediate action by the Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) and agencies that are not currently supported by ITS.
I want to make sure you are all aware of actions that have been taken, or are in progress by ITS, as well as what actions non-supported agencies should take.
Steps Taken:
- Blocking TikTok at the perimeter firewall. This protects all agencies accessing the internet through the Idaho State Network. This prevents TikTok from being accessed on the state network, but does not prevent access from home or other internet access.
- TikTok links in email going through the state email gateway will also be blocked.
Ongoing Activity/More agency communication to follow:
- Refinement of TikTok block rules in the perimeter firewall.
- Blocking TikTok App via endpoint management solution for all enrolled computer devices (Windows).
- Blocking TikTok from Android and iOS App Stores on state-owned mobile devices.
- Removal of TikTok from Android and iOS state-owned mobile devices.
- Block TikTok app executable file via endpoint protection solution.
Agencies managing and utilizing their own network connection, internet service provider, and device management software will need to complete these same steps in your environments if you haven’t done so already. ITS is happy to support those agencies in that effort if needed.
If you need support with any of the above actions, please contact John Brown, ITS Chief Information Security Officer, or Kevin Pilcher, ITS Cyber Security Operations Manager, at 208-605-4000.
