Windows Recall is back! In fact, if you are running Windows 11, Windows Recall is likely lurking somewhere on your system already. This is thanks to Microsoft quietly rolling out Recall to all eligible Windows 11 users via May’s regular Windows Update package. The only reason you might not know you have Recall is because, for now, Recall is set as disabled by default. One thing is certain, though: Microsoft really wants everyone to start using Recall at some point.
Why does Microsoft want you and everyone you know to start using what is essentially a cybersecurity nightmare waiting to happen?
Well, if you ask me, it’s because Microsoft and their buddies at the NSA want to see you naked…
What is Windows Recall & Why is It So Controversial?
Have you ever closed a web page by accident or forgotten what site it was where you stumbled upon some incredible nugget of life-changing information a few days ago? If you have and you have an IQ greater than a potato, you’ve probably taken a few minutes to look through your browser history to try to figure out what URL to go back to. Simple, right?
Well, Microsoft seems to think differently. As Microsoft sees things, life could be much easier if your computer was able to take a screenshot of your desktop every 5 seconds while simultaneously logging exactly what you are doing in those 5 seconds— what applications you have open, what documents you might be working on, etc.
Naturally, the way Windows Recall works has set alarm bells ringing in the minds of anyone with the slightest bit of cybersecurity awareness. After all, if a malicious party can access Recall data, that party will be privy to a treasure trove of private, as well as possibly very incriminating, personal information.
Remember When The UK Government Was Caught Watching You Masturbate?
To me, what is most alarming about how Windows Recall works is the parallels between how it works and how the UK and U.S. intelligence services were once caught harvesting data from Yahoo Messenger-connected webcams.
Yes, that’s right. As part of a joint operation between GCHQ and the NSA, the UK spent several months in 2008 recording screencaptures every 5 minutes from Yahoo-connected webcams.
This operation took place under the code name “Optic Nerve.” More importantly, Optic Nerve didn’t have a specific human target. What this means is simple: if you were in the UK or U.S. in 2008 using Yahoo Messenger via webcam, it is likely that there is a screenshot of you or whoever you were talking to in a GCHQ or NSA data center somewhere.
Let’s just hope you had your clothes on.
Cybersecurity Threat or NSA Honey Trap?
As the UK Guardian newspaper successfully exposed in 2014, almost 11% of all screencaptures in the Optic Nerve database are pornographic. Basically, people were hooking up online before doing that whole cybersex thing that hasn’t been a thing since Tinder. All that they didn’t know was that someone was recording. However, it doesn’t stop there.
In addition to recording often illicit screencaptures from members of the public, Operation Optic Nerve also made use of early facial recognition technology to discover the real identities of the people Optic Nerve was recording.
Now remember, Optic Nerve was only taking screencaptures of people using a single messaging app every 5 minutes. What Windows Recall wants to do is take a similar screencapture every 5 seconds of your entire desktop. After coupling this data with Windows users’ known account data (including credit card data, location data, etc.), Windows will effectively have the biggest bag of dirt on everyone that the Internet has ever known.
Honey Traps and Hacks Happen
In defense of Windows Recall, Microsoft states that all Recall data will be stored natively and ultra-securely on Windows users’ own computers. However, as I have discussed on The Crypto Con previously, there are backdoors known to agencies like the NSA, which effectively give them free real-time access to your PC without you knowing—even when your machine is in power-off mode.
The question Windows users also need to ask is, why did we need this feature anyway?
As for honey traps, mere hours after his appointment to the role, Sweden’s new National Security Advisor, Tobias Thyberg, was made to stand down in May 2025. Why? Because within hours of him taking the role, sensitive images of him using the gay dating app Grindr were sent anonymously to the Swedish government.
Do you see where I’m going here?
Your Government Likes to Have Dirt on You – Deal With It
It’s not just a sexy webcam chats with your girl or boy working in another state or country that you want to worry about with Windows Recall. If you invest in or trade, or just play with cryptocurrency, Windows Recall (when activated) will make it easy for anyone who can access Recall data, to piece together all your wallet recovery phrases, as well as all your regular banking KYC (Know Your Customer) information.
This will allow opportunistic hackers or rogue state agencies to plunder whatever wealth you have in a matter of seconds. Either this or blackmail you or make sure you stay quiet before you even think about becoming the next Snowden or Assange. Your only first line of defense is trusting that Microsoft will never let that happen.
Sadly, the simple reality is that Windows Recall, as well as the likely still-in-operation project Optic Nerve, is here to spy on you, gather incriminating data about you, and use this data against you should you ever become a person of interest or political influence. Windows Recall has already been proven to have several easy to exploit security vulnerabilities.
What you do with this information is up to you. Personally, though, it’s probably right about now that you might want to I’d switch to Linux.