Microsoft Edge Browser Leaks Users' Visited Sites to Bingapis.com – Here's What We Know
Key Highlights :
In recent months, Microsoft Edge has been gaining a lot of attention thanks to its GPT-4-backed Bing search engine. However, a new development has raised privacy concerns as it has been discovered that the browser has been leaking users’ visited sites to its API site, bingapis.com. This privacy issue was first identified by Reddit users and further investigated by software engineer Rafael Rivera.
According to The Verge, the latest version of Microsoft Edge sends a list of URLs for every page visited to bingapis.com. Reddit user Hackermchackface, who first discovered the flaw on the site, stated, “Searching for references to this URL gives very few results, no documentation on this feature at all.” After investigating the matter, Rafael Rivera found that it was a “poorly implemented new feature in Edge."
The new feature in question is the "creator follow" feature, which allows users to subscribe and discover artists and creators across the web. The feature was tested last year and has been widely implemented recently. Unfortunately, it appears that the feature is not working correctly and is sending nearly every domain users visit to Bing.
In response to the privacy issue, Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and is currently working on a fix. Until then, it is recommended that users disable the creator follow feature. Doing so will prevent URLs from being sent to bingapis.com, thus protecting user privacy.
Overall, the discovery of this privacy issue has raised some serious concerns about the security of Microsoft Edge. It is important to note, however, that Microsoft is working on a fix and that users can protect their privacy by disabling the creator follow feature. As always, it is important to stay informed about the latest developments in the tech world and to take the necessary steps to protect your data.
