Microsoft Recall, Stealing Everything You've Ever Typed
Microsoft recently introduced an upcoming feature of Windows 11 that will be rolled out soon with Copilot+ called Recall. If you’re a current user of Windows 11, this isn’t active for you yet, but it will be in the near future.
As a brief summary, Recall will continuously take screenshots of your PC every 5 seconds, creating a searchable database of your activity. It will also store everything you have ever typed in plain text, yes, including sensitive passwords that are copy and pasted.
We recommend you do everything you can to avoid Recall when it is implemented, and to disable it in Windows 11 in the near future.
In case you’re not convinced yet, you may want to switch to an open source OS, like Linux, in order to avoid 0 day exploits and privacy breaches that will likely occur on Windows due to Recall.
Recall is a PR Nightmare
Unfortunately, Recall is one of the many problematic new implementations of AI in mainstream operating systems.
Similar functionality will be coming to Apple, considering they have opted to work with Google’s Gemini AI and will soon implement invasive, AI based scanning of the private data located in the unencrypted messages on your smartphone and PC in the near future.
In case you are not convinced yet, here are some more reasons to avoid Recall:
Cybersec: Microsoft claims that Copilot+ runtime processes data locally, but because its database is stored in plain text, it will make any Windows based PC vulnerable to remote access by hackers.
One practical use case of this would be an InfoStealer trojan, which steals usernames and passwords and can easily be modified to support Recall.
User Reaction: Recall has rightly been met with overwhelmingly negative reactions from Windows users, who naturally fear the coming privacy breaches and severe potential for misuse by bad actors. For any Windows users still out there: this was inevitable.
Implementation: Recall is, quite frankly, a PR nightmare unfolding in real time for Microsoft. To make matters worse, the feature will come enabled by default, despite Microsoft calling it an “optional feature."
Legal Jargon Manipulation: Microsoft's vague, misleading descriptions of Recall are decidedly sketchy. They continue to use terms like "snapshots" instead of "screenshots," in order to cover their tracks and downplay Recall’s intrusiveness.
Update as of 6/13/24: Because of recent public backlash, Microsoft is now making Recall an optional feature that you have to willingly opt-in to, instead of being enabled by default. They are also adding encryption via Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security and are encrypting the search engine database.
Still, we wanted to capture the previous stages of development before Microsoft could sweep the roll-out of this extremely problematic feature under the rug.
Whether or not this convinces you to feel safe and secure while handing over your private data to Recall and Windows, is another story.
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Further Reading
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/microsoft-addresses-windows-recall-backlash-promises-to-fix-security-issues-and-make-it-opt-in
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy-and-control-over-your-recall-experience-d404f672-7647-41e5-886c-a3c59680af15
https://lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-disable-recall-in-windows-11
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-11/303456/microsoft-please-address-the-recall-concerns-immediately
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