A trap in Windows. Only risk takers will enable this feature

Microsoft poorly protects data – confidential information from Recall saved in one file

Kevin Beaumont, a security tester conducted research on the Recall service and shared its results on the X platform. As the results of Beaumont's investigation indicate, Microsoft is telling the truth: no data saved as part of the Recall operation will be made available to the network. However, this does not mean that the service is safe.

Through testing, Beaumont discovered that The Recall service saves all data obtained from screenshots in a simple text file, and sensitive data: passwords, conversation details and other confidential data are not encrypted. Data stored in a simple text file can be easy prey for hackers – an example file with data from several days takes up 90 kB.

Any person who comes into possession of the computer can also gain access to the data – All someone needs to do is log in to the user's profile and gain full insight into their history. Although user data is encrypted by Windows BitLocker, this only happens when the device is turned off or the user is not logged in.

Recall function on Windows 11 – what is it for?

Recall is an artificial intelligence-based service that automatically takes screenshots of your computer screen every five seconds. Thanks to this the user can return to any moment of his work, by issuing the appropriate command to the Copilot AI chatbot. Theoretically, this could be a useful feature, but it is already causing concern for privacy reasons.

The new Microsoft service will debut on Copilot + PCs with Windows 11 in June this year. The service will only be introduced on new computers – it is worth remembering this and possibly turning off the Recall service. However, it is possible that Microsoft will improve security vulnerabilities by the time of release.

See: A new Windows 11 feature could become a nightmare. Applies to everyone.