The IRS said it is working determining whether devices fall within exceptions for law enforcement purposes. Image: Alexandr Vorobev/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffIn a report whose findings could apply at other agencies as well, auditors said they found that many IRS computers and mobile devices still could contain—and some still do contain—Tik Tok despite a law, OMB guidance and internal agency policy.
The inspector general’s office was reviewing IRS compliance with a budget law enacted late in 2022 and subsequent OMB guidance generally banning that video-sharing application from government devices, terming it a potential security risk due to its capacity to capture user information that could be passed to the Chinese government. In addition, the IRS had a previous policy to prevent it from being downloaded on its devices and to block the application from accessing the Internet from any devices where it had been downloaded.
However, auditors found computers and mobile devices assigned to Criminal Investigation employees “continue to have the functionality to access TikTok and other related websites.” They identified “more than 2,800 mobile devices used by CI that could access TikTok’s website and approximately 900 CI employees that had the ability to get access to TikTok’s website via computers assigned to CI.”
They also found that some two dozen mobile devices used by the IRS’s communications and liaison group to monitor social media sites had access to the TikTok website and could download the TikTok application and that the agency had not updated its “bring your own device” policies to inform employees that the ban also applies to any personal devices they use for work-related purposes.
The report said management agreed with recommendations to address those issues except for blocking access on the mobile devices used by criminal investigation employees; the agency said it is working determining whether devices fall within exceptions for law enforcement purposes.
In response, the IG stressed that any exceptions under the law must be narrow and noted that CI officials had said that they “do not have a need to access TikTok on their mobile devices for investigative purposes as they have an alternative method to access the site if necessary.”
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