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Andrew Orr

Since 2015 Andrew has been writing about Apple, privacy, security, and at one point even Android. You can find him most places online under the username @andrewornot.

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Articles by Andrew Orr

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Report: Some Robinhood Accounts Were Hacked

Andrew Orr ·

Bloomberg reports that some Robinhood users had their accounts hacked and investments liquidated. But Robinhood said that the company itself wasn’t hacked.

A limited number of customers appear to have had their Robinhood account targeted by cyber criminals because of their personal email account (that which is associated with their Robinhood account) being compromised outside of Robinhood. We’re actively working with those impacted to secure their accounts.

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Here Are 6 Privacy Reasons You Should Delete WhatsApp

Andrew Orr ·

Sebastian Meineck shares six privacy reasons people should delete Facebook-owned WhatsApp from their devices.

But WhatsApp also has its flaws. On closer inspection, user privacy and data protection are no longer its priority, and plans to merge it with other Facebook-owned services like Facebook Messenger and Instagram DMs are concerning.

Signal is a good open-source private messenger to use instead.

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Belgium Drops Huawei in Favor of Nokia 5G Contracts

Andrew Orr ·

Amid U.S. pressure to exclude Chinese company Huawei from 5G infrastructure, Belgium is moving forward to work with Nokia.

The Belgian capital Brussels is home to the NATO alliance and the European Union’s executive and parliament, making it a matter of particular concern for U. S. intelligence agencies.

“Belgium has been 100% reliant on Chinese vendors for its radio networks – and people working at NATO and the EU were making mobile phone calls on these networks,” said John Strand, an independent Danish telecoms consultant.

“The operators are sending a signal that it’s important to have access to safe networks.”

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Apple’s Internal Networks Were Hacked for Three Months

Andrew Orr ·

But don’t worry, they were hacked by good guys working under Apple’s bug bounty program. Sam Curry, Brett Buerhaus, Ben Sadeghipour, Samual Erb, and Tanner Barnes found a total of 55 vulnerabilities.

During our engagement, we found a variety of vulnerabilities in core portions of their infrastructure that would’ve allowed an attacker to fully compromise both customer and employee applications, launch a worm capable of automatically taking over a victim’s iCloud account, retrieve source code for internal Apple projects, fully compromise an industrial control warehouse software used by Apple, and take over the sessions of Apple employees with the capability of accessing management tools and sensitive resources.

When I first saw the news I was aghast to learn that Apple only paid them US$55,000, but the blog post was updated to add that the team so far has gotten 32 payments totaling US$288,500. Still doesn’t seem enough to me. Apple needs to work on its internal security.

Cool Stuff Found

Here’s the Official Trailer for ‘Wolfwalkers’ on Apple TV+

Andrew Orr ·

Apple shared an official trailer for “Wolfwalkers” an animated film about the last wolves of Ireland. In a time of superstition and magic, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn Goodfellowe, journeys to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to transform into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh’s missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the WOLFWALKERS and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy. It arrives December 11.

Cool Stuff Found

‘Dickinson’ Season 2 Premieres on Apple TV+ January 8

Andrew Orr ·

Apple has announced “Dickinson” season 2 on its YouTube channel and it will premiere on Apple TV+ January 8, 2021. The series also scored an early renewal for a third season. Dickinson is a half-hour comedy series starring Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld. Dickinson audaciously explores the constraints of society, gender, and family from the perspective of rebellious young poet Emily Dickinson. Created, written, and executive produced by Alena Smith and executive produced by Hailee Steinfeld, “Dickinson” stars Hailee Steinfeld, Jane Krakowski, Toby Huss, Anna Baryshnikov, Ella Hunt, and Adrian Blake Enscoe. Wiz Khalifa guest stars.

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Privacy Advocates Call on Tim Cook to to Implement iOS 14 Privacy Features

Andrew Orr ·

Ranking Digital Rights, along with seven other organizations, sent a letter [PDF] to Apple CEO Tim Cook, urging the company to implement iOS 14 privacy features that are delayed until 2021.

Apple has the opportunity to reinforce its position as an industry leader on protecting the privacy of its users by empowering them to control who can track their online behavior. At the same time, this change can and should enable the company to become more transparent about how it enforces its terms against apps that violate its policies. By delaying the introduction of crucial privacy measures, the company is slowing the momentum it created.

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Apple Wants to Store Your ID Digitally. What Could Go Wrong?

Andrew Orr ·

William Gallagher writes how Apple is working on methods to store your ID digitally in Wallet, like credit cards. But I found this part concerning:

This all presumes that we are able to present our ID. There are situations, such as when we’re incapacitated, when we need to be identified yet we cannot personally do anything about that. In this case, Apple proposes that under the right circumstances, our devices could “automatically transmit the user’s identity credential.”

Apple gives the example of a first responder, “such as police officer, firefighter, etc,” who could legitimately possess a device that would automatically request ID like this.

I bet law enforcement would love a Stingray-like device that can automatically harvest IDs when they walk through a protest.

Cool Stuff Found

App Store Connect 1.5 Update Brings New Icon, TestFlight

Andrew Orr ·

The App Store Connect 1.5 update brings a new icon that uses design language from macOS Big Sur. It also lets developers set up internal TestFlight beta testing and more. Release Notes: Add up to 100 members of your team to test beta builds of your app; edit test details for beta builds, view build activity and status, and expire builds; answer required export compliance questions; remove internal testers.

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IRS Investigated for Location Data Usage Without Warrant

Andrew Orr ·

The IRS is being investigated for its use of location data collected from apps without obtaining warrants.

The IRS’ attempts were not successful though, as the people the IRS was looking for weren’t included in the particular Venntel data set, the aide added.

But the IRS still obtained this data without a warrant, and the legal justification for doing so remains unclear. The aide said that the IRS received verbal approval to use the data, but stopped responding to their office’s inquiries.