Calling Off the Outlook Mobile App Challenge!

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Yesterday we invited everyone to join us on the Outlook Mobile App Challenge, which seemed like a fun way to put this new ‘universal inbox’ app to the test. Since then some significant security concerns have been identified that makes this an app that we cannot recommend using right now. As a result, we’re stopping the challenge immediately.

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There are a bunch of articles that discuss the issues, but the one at Tom’s Hardware really lays them out nicely, saying amongst other things:

“What I saw was breathtaking. A frequent scanning from an AWS IP to my mail account. Means Microsoft stores my personal credentials and server data (luckily I’ve used my private test account and not my company account) somewhere in the cloud! They haven’t asked me. They just scan. So they have in theory full access to my PIM data,” said Winkelmeyer in a blog post.

I have removed the app from my iPhone, iPad, and Galaxy Tab Pro … and suggest everyone else do the same until such a time as these issues are properly addressed.

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About the Author

Michael Anderson
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!

3 Comments on "Calling Off the Outlook Mobile App Challenge!"

  1. I just looked at my Gmail user logs and I assume what is the Outlook mail client usage is not using personal credentials, but OAuth, which is very different. Still, it appears that they are downloading your mail and storing it on servers, which does seem very fishy. Unfortunately, once that’s happened, even if you revoke access, the cat is out of the bag, isn’t it? They have full access to all of those messages, even if you do remove the account.

    BTW, to revoke access, go here: https://security.google.com/settings/security/permissions?pli=1 and look for “outlook”

  2. I am not sure if it matters or not, but before uninstalling the Outlook app, I uninstalled each account from the app — checking the option to delete all local and server stored info. Thanks for the “revoke access” reminder.

    What a bummer; I liked this app on iOS, even if I preferred Gmail on Android. Now it’s back to the Gmail app on both. =P

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