Kevin Beaumont
If anybody wonders if Recall classifies what porn you watch, yes. Aside from OCRing text it also classifies images in videos.
9 minute 50 second mark in this, screen is blurred for obvious reasons.
Here’s the clip translated around adult content with Microsoft Recall.
They filter search terms in English like nude - but don’t filter it in other languages.
Everything you view - including in videos - is classified and stored in the database regardless.
This is pretty good - detecting Microsoft Recall misuse for data exfil. https://youtu.be/SV9-dn-5uEY?si=jVz9sC4A2wKxeiBt
I tested this against the latest release of Recall and both TotalRecall and these detections still work.
Obviously Recall may well alter before it hits Insider preview channel, nobody needs to rush out detections yet.
Btw all through this saga, Microsoft Defender never triggered Recall specific alerts for me. Sophos did.
Microsoft Recall: Detecting Abuse | Threat SnapShot
You've probably heard of Microsoft's new Recall feature by now. It's a info stealer's dream come true. There has been a lot of information release about how ...
Apple on Microsoft Recall.
Windows 11 24H2 preview release has been rereleased (but only for Copilot+ devices). It doesn’t include Recall any more.
Additionally the Copilot+ PCs now have an update which enables the other AI features. This wasn’t available until a few hours ago, hence the lack of unsupervised reviews of the devices. It means you will see those reviews drop after the devices launch tomorrow.
There’s a website which gives some insight into how the UI and marketing push for Copilot+ Recall came together. The actual video appears to have gone MIA.
Introducing Recall
I led the visualization for the Recall app launch, showcasing its capabilities on a 50-foot screen during the live public introduction by Yusuf. My UI team managed the project from start to finish, developing visuals in the final two weeks. Building on our Recall experiences from the Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and Copilot+ PC sizzle videos, we enhanced these scenarios for the live stage production, demonstrating Recall's full potential. This dynamic presentation was a highlight, refining Recall’s story for a large audience.
.@JohnHammond’s video on Recall is great, and a lot of fun - should also stop history being rewritten on this one later.
Windows Recall (was) a Security Nightmare
I got ahold of what I think is the latest Microsoft Recall (Copilot+ Recall? Nobody knows the branding) build and.. well.. Total Recall still works with the smallest of tweaks to export the database, it's still accessible as a plaintext database with marketing as the security layer.
Another observation, the Recall backlog must be very large as it's just becoming a truck load of features being dumped on.
One thing MS needs to fix in Recall, before the Insider canary build hits again, is the MSRC bug bounty.
As far as I can see, if you find a critical or high in Recall it qualifies for *drumroll* $1k bounty, unless I'm misinformed.
That probably needs clarifying as nobody is going to sell photographic memory access to Windows devices to MS for that value - it's way more valuable elsewhere.
Linus Tech Tips on Copilot+ and Recall, after their embargo lifted. https://youtu.be/w5h_1Buf54I
The Truth about Snapdragon X Laptops…
Microsoft have started running paid adverts for Recall, apparently unaware the feature didn’t ship. https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/new-microsoft-ads-tout-unavailable-recall-feature-dont-mention-it-was-indefinitely-delayed-due-to-privacy-concerns
Something about Recall which I don’t think got enough (any?) coverage is it was marketed by Satya as using the NPU.. but it didn’t.
Should Microsoft Recall ever reappear I plan to keep checking how secure it is, because the next evolution of security cannot be Microsoft pouring petrol onto the infostealer fire.
Infostealer malware is swiping millions of passwords, cookies, and search histories. It’s a gold mine for hackers—and a disaster for anyone who becomes a target.
https://www.wired.com/story/infostealer-malware-password-theft/
XDA Developers, who were a good source of behind the scenes info during the Microsoft Recall saga, are saying Microsoft have kicked Recall into the long grass and they think it may never launch. https://www.xda-developers.com/thread/microsoft-wants-you-to-forget-about-copilot-recall-it-seems/
It’s been almost two months since Microsoft said it would launch for Insiders in “weeks” instead.
Microsoft now say Recall will available for Insider testing in October on select Copilot+ PCs.
As a community we’ll need to test the security implications out extensively.
Due to hardware requirements this will obviously be a problem, unless we can hack it to install on non-NPU systems again - I don’t know if that has been ‘fixed’ or not.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/21/24225439/microsoft-recall-windows-ai-feature-october-testing
The Microsoft Recall saga continues - Microsoft accidentally introduced the ability to uninstall it. They say this was an error and you won’t be able to uninstall it in the future. https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/2/24233992/microsoft-recall-windows-11-uninstall-feature-bug
Recall is back.
Overall the planned changes here are much more robust.
Some of the things are boomerangs - eg they said it wasn’t uninstallable weeks ago, but it is now. Also they said it wasn’t developed under Secure Future Initiative a few months ago.. but now say it was originally under SFI.
The proof is in the pudding obviously so hands on tests will be required. They’ve locked it to Copilot+ PC systems now, which will limit research.
Microsoft need to go back and fix this if true, as Explorer shouldn’t be tied to Copilot and Recall. https://news.itsfoss.com/microsoft-windows-recall/
Microsoft have recalled Recall again.
It still hasn't even made it to Insider preview yet, that's been delayed too, now in December.
Good, by the way. They should take the time to get it right. I still don't know what they were thinking when they had the CEO stand on stage and say it was launching on devices 6 months ago and would be fully secure, when they hadn't even done a basic security review of it.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/31/24284572/microsoft-recall-delay-december-windows-insider-testing
I'd be surprised if it is released in December btw, as Redmond is a ghost town in the office from basically now until mid January.
I guess a cynical version is they're trying to rush out the Insider preview during Christmas so nobody actually reviews it.. but, well, I don't think that would happen as it'd be another own goal. It probably needs 6 months in Insider release with a bug bounty, to avoid exploits dropping like Joker 2 at the box office on release.
In a newly released blog entitled "Windows: AI-powered, cloud-enabled, and secure", Microsoft say the business versions of Windows will ship with Recall disabled by default - IT departments will have to enable the feature before it is available.
This is a smart move and frankly it was incredible that the original idea was to ship this enabled by default in business - it was never, ever going to fly and hopefully Microsoft is rightly humbled by the experience.
Microsoft are getting positive press for calling Recall “one of the most secure experiences it has built”.
I’d point out - they haven’t provided a Preview build to Insiders still, and there’s been no externally provided build (outside of NDA), so nobody has been able to assess the security and talk about it. There’s no specific bug bounty for it either.
When they first announced Recall, they called it totally secure - which was laughably inaccurate. It feels like a lot of premature high fiving
Microsoft Recall is now available for testing.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/22/microsoft_recall_release/
It’s only available on Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs. My feeling is we’re probably going to want to hook one up to the internet and hack RDP for unlimited sessions, to allow research - I’ll look into it.
I’ve been told Recall is eligible for bug bounty as part of the Insider programme. I think the process is supposed to be sandboxed so in theory (my reading) the payout limit should be $20k.
Microsoft are rolling out Recall to users in Windows Insider (testing) before a wider rollout to all compatible systems.
It's definitely one to watch (and yes, I am) from a security point of view.
I've took a look at the past year of work Microsoft has done on Recall, which is due to roll out to compatible Windows devices soon
tl;dr it's much better from a security and privacy point of view. My partner managed to hack my Recall memory in 5 minutes to browse prior Signal discussions, by guessing my Windows Hello PIN.
There's a bunch of risks people who enable it need to understand.
Ars Technica have a good look at Recall too https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/in-depth-with-windows-11-recall-and-what-microsoft-has-and-hasnt-fixed/
One other Microsoft Recall observation, it records Citrix client sessions, even with anti-screen capture enabled.
Microsoft have announced, in a Friday night blog post, they are rolling out Copilot+ Recall to all compatible devices over the next month. https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2025/04/25/copilot-pcs-are-the-most-performant-windows-pcs-ever-built-now-with-more-ai-features-that-empower-you-every-day/
Tabletop scenario for you:
Employee gets into a dispute with employer, leaves, had sensitive role. Employer revokes access, devices etc. Employee had logged in via BYOD to email, IM etc.
Due to Recall, employee walks away with 6 months of screenshots of everything she's ever worked on in a text indexed form - every email, chat, document, Teams call with video snapshots, transcripts of verbal calls etc - even if they set M365 to not store documents locally.
What does the employer do now?
Signal have rolled out an update to all users that stops Microsoft Recall from capturing Signal conversations.
I’ve tested this and it works. Brilliant work by the @signalapp team. 💪
They call on Microsoft to build better, as there was no standardised way as an app developer to do this. Because Signal is open source, now app developers have a template to protect their users from Windows.
By Default, Signal Doesn't Recall
Signal Desktop now includes support for a new “Screen security” setting that is designed to help prevent your own computer from capturing screenshots of your Signal chats on Windows. This setting is automatically enabled by default in Signal Desktop on Windows 11. If you’re wondering why we’re on...
I found an interesting Microsoft Recall issue with the latest version - Recall is enabled on my PC, but the tray icon (bottom right) saying it is running is missing.
Edit: after a reboot, it's back. I'll keep an eye on it. After the latest Windows Update the UI wasn't visible, but it was still recording.
Brave are blocking Microsoft Recall by default, hopefully Vivaldi follow. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/brave-blocks-windows-recall-from-screenshotting-your-browsing-activity/
The Register took a look at Microsoft Recall and found it captured personal information, such as social security numbers and such in its database.
They also found they could access it remotely using TeamViewer, using just a PIN.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/01/microsoft_recall_captures_credit_card_info/
I still use Recall on my development laptop, and actually use the feature quite a lot through testing Recall... and yet, I've started to get regular engagement prompts to use it lately.
To me this strongly suggests people aren't actually using it in the wild as MS are trying to juice numbers via nudge prompts.
On a separate note I also got prompted to change my default browser to Edge (I use Vivaldi) and my search engine to Bing when switching on my laptop today 🤦
Microsoft are upselling security controls for Microsoft Recall, which allow orgs to limit what it records specifically - if the org pay for Microsoft Purview.
I’ve had a look at how this works under the hood, it is using undocumented features in Recall. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/purview/dlp-recall-get-started
Microsoft is reviewing its Copilot+ integrations, and is saying internally that Microsoft Recall has failed.
You won: Microsoft is walking back Windows 11’s AI overload — scaling down Copilot and rethinking Recall in a major shift
People familiar with Microsoft's plans say that the company moving to streamline or remove certain Copilot integrations across in-box apps like Notepad and Paint in 2026, after pushback from users.
So @xaitax has cracked Microsoft Recall, he's got access to the encrypted database and has automated dumping of screenshots and all text from screenshots.
I've looked at most recent Recall and yep, you can just read the database as a user process. The database also contains all manner of fields which aren't publicly disclosed for tracking the user's activity.
No AV or EDR alerts triggered, world's #1 in infostealer 😅
* you can just read it in plain text
fuzzyfuzzyfungus@GossiTheDog @xaitax What sorts of "all manner of fields which aren't publicly disclosed for tracking the user's activity" are we talking here?
Are these being inferred from the disclosed 'we screen-scrape you' mechanism; or is recall hoovering up other information from the target system in ways not disclosed?