> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.techstories.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Why Microsoft's AI-powered 'Recall' is an impending cyber disaster
- URL: https://www.techstories.co/why-microsofts-ai-powered-recall-is-an-impending-cyber-disaster/
- Published: 2024-06-06T13:33:21.000Z
- Updated: 2024-06-06T13:34:42.000Z
- Description: Cyber expert says it's a train wreck in slow motion.
- Author: Paul Mah
- Tags: Cyber Security, AI

AI-powered 'Recall' feature is coming to Windows. A cyber expert says it's a train wreck in slow motion.

Microsoft recently took the wraps off a new AI-powered Recall feature, currently slated to debut June 18 as part of "Copilot Plus" PCs.

**Total 'Recall'**

How it works:

- Capture a screenshot every few seconds.
- Processed and stored entirely on the local PC.
- Service designed to help users recall everything.

Sounds perfectly harmless, isn't it?

However, a cybersecurity researcher who tested it is now warning users that it's a disaster waiting to happen.

**Cybersecurity nightmare**

In a detailed blog post, Kevin Beaumont argued that Recall will have devastating consequences for users compromised by malware.

Imagine Recall extracting and storing the following:

- Every website you visited.
- Discussions in messaging apps.
- Budget spreadsheets, confidential docs.

Now everything is accessible from a single, convenient database they can siphon out over a typical broadband connection in less than a minute.

**Potential problems**

Its security measures don't work, argue Kevin, because:

- Most users log in with an admin account.
- Everything Recall sees is stored with no filtering.
- Captured data is stored indefinitely.

Kevin noted how Microsoft Defender for Endpoint successfully detected an off-the-shelf infostealer malware. However, the process took 10 minutes - more than enough time to steal Recall data.

And the stolen data is a massive problem. Imagine:

- An admin staffer working for an insurance firm is breached. Just think of the thousands of PII records they would have looked at.
- A careful coder who logs in via VPN and doesn't store source code locally. Yet all the code they ever looked at could still be compromised.
- Hackers could start targeting the Recall database and resell stolen data to other cyber criminals on the dark web.

**What next?**

For now, Kevin is urging Microsoft to reconsider the current implementation of Recall. To illustrate the risks, he even created a tool to access the Recall database.

- Recall is an optional experience, though it must be explicitly disabled once it's live.
- The feature will appear first on 10 Copilot+ devices and will eventually make its way to Windows 11.

Do you agree that Recall is a cybersecurity problem waiting to happen?