How to Block TikTok on Your Government Network

Across state and local governments in the U.S., the popular social media platform TikTok is being banned. The U.S. Federal government is also taking action. This includes the State of South Dakota where Governor Kristi Noem issued an executive order to block TikTok from state devices used by government employees, contractors, and agencies. And the State of Maryland, where Governor Larry Hogan has just issued an emergency directive to prohibit the use of TikTok and other Chinese or Russian based products and platforms by state government officials.

As TikTok bans grow, Umbrella key to securing government

Under Hogan’s directive, Maryland agencies are to remove all products that fall in this category from state networks, implement measures to prevent their installation, and implement network restrictions to prevent their use and access. Maryland state Chief Information Systems Officer (CISO) Chip Stewart states “This action represents a critical step in protecting Maryland State systems from cybersecurity threats caused by foreign organizations”.  The Washington Post reports that the states of Wisconsin and Florida are also making similar moves.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also getting involved, noting concerns (more here) that TikTok can push Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence through its recommendation algorithm as well as collect user data and even control software for espionage purposes and to compromise users (learn more). Thankfully for state, local, and federal agencies the threat posed by TikTok to their networks, data, and users can be quickly blocked using Cisco Umbrella.

Blocking TikTok is easier than you think

Using a firewall or MDM to block TikTok isn’t as effective as using Cisco Umbrella for remote users off the corporate network. As governments move towards hybrid work environments, this capability is now critical.

Blocking TikTok is a quick five-minute process and is detailed by Cisco’s Phillip Ellerbroek’s in his recent post on LinkedIn (see post). In it he covers the process developed by our own Matt Buttner to block TikTok user access using Cisco Umbrella. This includes blocking access even when users are off the corporate network (at a coffee shop, airport, or in transit for example).

4 steps to block TikTok

To help your agency defend against the threats posed by TikTok, we reached out to Chris Ireland, a Cisco Technical Solutions Architect for our Cloud Security State, Local, and Education (SLED) team. He has offered up 4 simple steps to block TikTok using Umbrella.

Step 1: Within the Cisco Umbrella Dashboard, navigate to “Reporting” — >  “App Discovery”.

The App Discovery dashboard shows the level of cloud service activity and risk in your organization. It also provides a summary by app category that is sorted by risk level. This gives insight into potential policy and compliance violations if employees use a new cloud service instead of an approved app.

App Discover allows you to easily block the available apps by clicking on the link in the application listing or detail pages and enforce this control for any network, group, or individual user accessible by Umbrella policies.

Step 2: Within the App Discovery Dashboard, select the “unreviewed apps” link and search for “Tik Tok” in the search bar.

Step 3: Next, click on the “Tik Tok” application link to view detailed summary information about the app and its associated risk score.

To block TikTok across the organization, simply click the “control this app” link, select your DNS List(s) to apply to your policies with a block action selected, and click the “save” button.

Step 4: You may also choose to label the application as “Not Approved” for informational purposes.

Attempting to access TikTok from a web browser will present the user with a block page, which can be customized to fit your organization’s needs. These settings will also block the TikTok application from functioning on mobile devices.

Cisco Umbrella also provides protection for your employees even when they are off network or off a Virtual Private Network (VPN). With roaming client support, you’ll get seamless protection against malware, phishing, and command-and-control callbacks wherever your users go with operating system support for Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Android, and iOS devices.

Dive deeper

Cisco Umbrella uses the Internet’s infrastructure to enforce security and block malicious activity before a connection is ever established. By delivering security from the cloud, there is no hardware to install and no software to manually update. You save time, reduce overhead, and get effective security with a proven track record of 100% uptime since 2006.

At Cisco, we believe security doesn’t have to be hard. We invite you to explore our broad portfolio of cybersecurity solutions for government. Remember, we’re here to help.

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