TikTok Global Chief Security Officer Roland Cloutier to Transition Into an Advisory Role

The ongoing storm over TikTok U.S. user data and whether it is being accessed in China sent a wave crashing across the top of its global security organization, as global chief security officer Roland Cloutier will transition into a strategic advisory role and be succeeded on an interim basis by Kim Albarella. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Dingkun Hong, vice president of technology for TikTok parent ByteDance, shared their internal update to employees in a blog post Friday, explaining, “Part of our evolving approach has been to minimize concerns about the security of user data in the U.S., including the creation of a new department to manage U.S. user data for TikTok. This is an important investment in our data protection practices, and it also changes the scope of the global chief security officer role.” They continued, “With this in mind, Roland has decided to step back from his day-to-day operations as global CSO, effective Sept. 2. He will take on the role of strategic advisor to the company, continuing to work together with senior leadership to help us focus on the business impact of our security and trust programs.” Cloutier’s interim successor, Albarella, had been the company’s head of security risk, vendor and client assurance. Chew and Hong said of her, “Kim Albarella will serve as interim head of our global security organization to help ensure a smooth transition while we maintain a strong focus on data privacy and security excellence. We are confident in Kim’s deep understanding of security issues, combined with her more than 20 years of leadership and communications experience, and we are grateful to her for taking on this role.” TikTok’s issues with the federal government, particularly Republicans, came to light aboard Air Force One in July 2020, when then-President Donald Trump told reporters he intended to ban the application in the U.S., accusing the company of sharing user data with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and with government officials in Beijing. Trump threatened to invoke emergency economic powers to prohibit U.S. contractors from working with the company. TikTok fired back, asserting that no user data was shared in China, and that ByteDance was actually headquartered in the Cayman Islands, but the Trump administration kept applying pressure, leading to a near-sale of TikTok to Oracle and Walmart in September 2020. However, the presidential election in November of that year became the administration’s top priority, and no further actions were taken against TikTok—a path the administration of current President Joe Biden has followed to date, as well. The China connection stormed back into the news in a big way in June, when Emily Baker-White of BuzzFeed News obtained access to leaked audio from more than 80 internal TikTok meetings, which contained multiple references by multiple employees stating that ByteDance employees based in China repeatedly accessed nonpublic data about U.S. TikTok users. Albert Calamug, who works on U.S. security public policy for TikTok, responded in a blog post that all U.S. user data has been stored in its data centers in the U.S. and Singapore, adding that 100% of U.S. user traffic is now being routed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, with the data centers being used for backup. Earlier this month, vice president and head of public policy, Americas Michael Beckerman conceded that some user data may in fact have made its way to China, despite previous denials, writing in a blog post, “As a rule, security teams want to minimize the number of people who have access to data and limit it only to people who need that access in order to do their job. We have policies and procedures that limit internal access to user data by our employees, wherever they’re based, based on need. Like many global companies, TikTok has engineering teams around the world—including in Mountain View (Calif.), London, Dublin, Singapore and China—and those teams might need access to data for engineering functions that are specifically tied to their roles.” Cloutier wrote in his note to employees, also shared on the TikTok blog, “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 Shou, Dingkun and other senior leaders … As I prepare to sign off from this role, I'm excited to move into a new one with pride in all that we’ve accomplished. I look forward to taking on this new focus as strategic advisor to the company, and I can’t wait to watch the amazing things TikTok and its global community will continue to imagine, build, and deliver to the world in the years ahead.”

Platforms

TikTok Global Chief Security Officer Roland Cloutier to Transition Into an Advisory Role

Head of security risk, vendor and client assurance Kim Albarella will succeed him on an interim basis

David Cohen

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

David Cohen