Microsoft is set to upgrade the Enhanced Phishing Protection feature on Microsoft Defender by alerting users about security risks when they copy and paste passwords. The company announced the update as part of the Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23506 for developers on July 19.
Microsoft unveiled Enhanced Phishing Protection at the beginning of June 2023 to safeguard users’ passwords and improve their online security. “Enhanced Phishing Protection in Microsoft Defender SmartScreen helps protect your password from being stolen, or phished, on malicious sites and apps pretending to be safe,” Microsoft explained.
Besides the improvement to Enhanced Phishing Protection, the new Windows 11 build comes with a slew of other features, including passwordless login with Windows Hello for Business, Windows Copilot, 3D emojis, and much more.
More About Enhanced Phishing Protection on Microsoft Defender
Phishing is a common cyberattack technique that involves sending fraudulent emails or creating fake websites that look legitimate. Threat actors trick their targets into clicking on malicious links and attachments or entering their login credentials and other sensitive data.
Until now, Enhanced Phishing Protection, which is part of Microsoft Defender SmartScreen and Microsoft Defender for Office 365, only warned users about potential risks when they typed passwords.
“We are trying out a change starting with this build where users who have enabled warning options for Windows Security under App & browser control > Reputation-based protection > Phishing protection will see a UI warning on unsafe password copy and paste, just as they currently see when they type in their password,” Microsoft said.
Microsoft Defender SmartScreen analyzes websites and files that users encounter online and warns them if they are potentially unsafe or malicious. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 scans emails and attachments users receive in Outlook or other Office apps and flags them if they contain phishing or malware threats.
Windows 11 users can see information about why a website or file was blocked by Microsoft Defender SmartScreen, such as the type of threat, the source of the threat, and the recommended action to take. Users can also report false positives or false negatives to Microsoft, which will help improve the accuracy and reliability of the feature.
Windows 11 users can also see more details about the sender and the content of an email flagged by Microsoft Defender for Office 365, such as the sender’s name, email address, domain, and reputation score. Users can see a preview of the email’s subject line, body text, and attachments and decide whether to trust or delete the email.
According to Microsoft, these features will help users make more informed decisions about whether to interact with a website or an email and reduce the risk of falling victim to phishing attacks.
Check out our comprehensive guide to phishing to learn about this elusive threat and discover how to protect yourself online.
How to Get the New Windows Build
You can join the Windows Insider Program to try the new Windows 11 build. However, it’s important to note that installing preview builds may cause some problems or errors with your device. We recommend backing up your data before doing so.
Usually, Windows preview builds are released to the general public after some testing. To check for the latest updates on Windows 11, go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update.
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