The University of Virginia has joined the trend of universities banning certain social media apps from connecting to school networks. In an email sent out on Friday, UVA's community was notified that all employees, agents, contractors, non-student users, and university IT specialists are prohibited from accessing, downloading, or using any applications or websites developed by ByteDance Ltd. or Tencent Holdings Ltd.
An email was sent out on Friday notifying UVA's community. All UVA employees, agents and contractors, non-student users, and the university IT specialists are disallowed from accessing, downloading, or using any applications or websites developed by ByteDance Ltd. or Tencent Holdings Ltd.The newly banned apps at UVA include TikTok, WeChat, Helo, Lark, and Inked.The push to delete the apps is in accordance with Virginia law.
“We are taking this step today to secure state government devices and wireless networks from the threat of infiltration and ensure that we safeguard the data and cybersecurity of state government,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said of the new ban. The updated UVA IT policy includes any employee device, including personal devices with access to the university's wireless internet.
The University of Virginia is among many public universities recently restricting access to Chinese-owned apps on school computers, mobile phones, and Wi-Fi.
Universities have long been the targets of espionage and are vulnerable to IT attacks. According to a cybersecurity firm iDefense and security vendor FireEye, in 2019, research found that Chinese hackers have targeted 27 U.S. universities to gather intelligence on sensitive U.S. Navy data.
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