Microsoft to introduce delayed recall feature amid security controversy (video)

Microsoft (MSFT) is set to finally release its long-delayed restore feature for Windows 11. The software option, which the company debuted in May, saves screenshots of virtually everything you do on your computer, allowing you to search and interact with them later.

For example, if you booked a hotel room but forgot the website you were using, or you need to find an old document and don’t remember what you named it, you can use the Recall feature to describe the website or document and it will find it by browsing these screenshots .

It’s a useful concept, but security researchers quickly raised concerns that hackers or malware could access these screenshots, steal users’ data and view some of their most sensitive information.

In response, Microsoft withheld this feature and instead chose to release Copilot+ computers without the Recall feature. Now that the software has been overhauled, Microsoft says it’s ready to go and that user data will be as safe as possible. However, Microsoft has not yet revealed the official release date.

“I think it’s really a statement from Microsoft that we’re going to put all of our power into keeping AI safe,” David Weston, Microsoft’s vice president of enterprise and operating system security, told Yahoo Finance.

One of the biggest changes to Recall is that it is now optional, which means that if you want to use it, you need to check a specific box that contains the appropriate information. Restore was previously enabled by default.

Microsoft also says that users’ screenshots, or snapshots as the company calls them, are encrypted and that the only way to access them is by using Microsoft’s Windows Hello feature, which requires authentication that you are who you say you are. using the laptop’s fingerprint reader capabilities or facial recognition.

If a user’s laptop becomes infected with malware, Microsoft says it uses rate limiting and anti-hammering to prevent the malware from accessing your information. The rate limiting and anti-hammering feature detects when someone or something tries to log in to the program too many times in a short period of time and requires re-authentication via fingerprint or face ID.

Read more: How to create a strong password and protect your financial accounts

Microsoft also says Recall currently uses Purview software, which helps protect corporate systems, to ensure the platform doesn’t save data such as user passwords, national identification numbers or credit card numbers. According to Weston, Purview contains a database that allows him to recognize what these types of numbers might look like and prevents Recall from capturing images of them.

What’s more, Microsoft says users will be able to choose what kind of screenshots Recall can take. For example, you can tell Recall not to capture snapshots of certain applications or web browsers, or certain types of documents. You can also completely disable or uninstall Recall if you don’t want it on your computer at all.

Additionally, the software will recognize when you are using private browsing or incognito mode in your web browser and will stop recording images of what you are looking at.

To prove its security changes, Microsoft says it has conducted months of security reviews using the Microsoft Offensive Research and Security Engineering team and third-party security experts to ensure the software is safe.

Recall is one of the hallmark features of Microsoft’s Copilot+ PCs, which is a designation for laptops that meet a certain threshold of power and capabilities and run the latest version of Windows 11. Running the software without Recall, however, meant that while users still had access to the assistant software Copilot, were unable to access one of the features that Microsoft had hoped would be a major selling point for AI development.

Now Microsoft just needs to make sure the software is as secure as it claims.

Email Daniel Howley at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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