Microsoft's new version of Recall appears to still capture sensitive data like credit card numbers, even with the default “sensitive information” filter enabled
it's now possible to try the controversial Copilot feature Christian Guyton / TechRadar : Microsoft Recall offers a ‘sensitive information filter’ to avoid saving your credit card details - but whoops, it doesn't work Kevin Okemwa / Windows Central : Windows Recall AI may sometimes capture intricate credit card details, even when Microsoft's sensitive information filter is enabled in Windows 11 Eduard Kovacs / SecurityWeek : In Other News: Gen Digital Makes $1B Buy, Recall Captures Sensitive Data, MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations Mpesce / Windows Copilot News : Has Microsoft Lost the AI Wars? Sarah Chaney / Laptop Mag : Windows Recall AI takes snapshots of credit cards and private data even when it's not supposed to Alfonso Maruccia / TechSpot : Microsoft Recall is capturing screenshots of sensitive information like credit card and social security numbers Markus Kasanmascheff / WinBuzzer : Microsoft's Windows Recall AI Feature Still Has Severe Privacy Issues Simon Batt / XDA Developers : Surprise! The “new and improved” Microsoft Recall is still a privacy nightmare Willow Roberts / Digital Trends : A new test shows Microsoft Recall's continued security problems Bluesky: Tim Kellogg / @timkellogg.me : a product cannot come back from this. it's getting bad enough that it might kill an entire category of products for everyone who tries to offer them www.tomshardware.com/software/ win... Mastodon: @Fat_Farang@mastodon.social : @Techmeme It still baffles me that the free Linux/BSD OSes, that would serve the needs of 90% of the public, languish in obscurity. People think their computers will only work if they pay money and freely give their data away to corporations. Power of propaganda, I guess. @leeloo@techhub.social : @Techmeme — “Filter out” is not the same as not capturing it. Of course the AI is going to do the filtering😆 your name is personal data, if you told it your name, otherwise it will just make one up, but that there is just a number with many digits🤪 @monkee@chaos.social : @Techmeme — much shock. very surprised 😏 @tertle950@kitty.social : @Techmeme@techhub.social Clearly they can't recall the words of a million security researchers X: Steven Sinofsky / @stevesi : Microsoft Recall screenshots credit cards and Social Security numbers, even with the “sensitive information” filter enabled // if only this could have been predicted https://www.tomshardware.com/ ... Forums: Hacker News : Microsoft Recall still storing credit card, social security numbers r/privacy : Microsoft Recall screenshots credit cards and Social Security numbers, even with the “sensitive information” filter enabled r/technology : Microsoft Recall screenshots credit cards and Social Security numbers, even with the “sensitive information” filter enabled r/pcmasterrace : Tom's Hardware: Microsoft Recall screenshots credit cards and Social Security numbers, even with the “sensitive information” filter enabled r/Windows11 : Microsoft Recall screenshots credit cards and Social Security numbers, even with the “sensitive information” filter enabled BeauHD / Slashdot : Microsoft Recall Screenshots Credit Cards, Social Security Numbers
Context & Ripple Effects
Recall was introduced as a Copilot+ PC timeline that makes users’ past activity searchable, making its handling of screen content central to the product rather than a peripheral setting. Microsoft subsequently moved to an opt-in model with encrypted indexing and Windows Hello protections after early privacy and security concerns.
The reported filter failure matters because it tests whether those safeguards protect data at the point of collection. It also reinforces the trust problem identified in the earlier backlash over Recall’s rollout.
First-order effects
- Users who enable the sensitive-information filter cannot treat it as a reliable boundary against Recall retaining credit-card and other sensitive details shown on screen.
- Microsoft faces an immediate product-assurance problem: its filtering claims and testing need to withstand real-world screen content before Recall can earn confidence as a privacy-preserving feature.
Second-order effects
- Organizations evaluating Copilot+ PCs may impose tighter restrictions on Recall or require independent validation, reducing the value of a feature designed to make on-device activity searchable.
- Rival PC and operating-system vendors can position narrower data collection or clearer local-data controls as a differentiator while Microsoft works to restore confidence.
Third-order effects
- If sensitive-data detection remains unreliable, AI features that continuously observe user activity will be judged less by convenience than by whether their collection boundaries are demonstrably enforceable.
- The episode points toward a higher assurance threshold for platform-level AI: opt-in, encryption, and authentication may not be sufficient when the underlying capture layer can still retain protected information.
The trend: Ambient, on-device AI is shifting the competitive question from what it can remember to whether users and organizations can reliably control what it is allowed to collect.