Your visited websites are being leaked to Bing by Microsoft Edge.
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Apr 25, 2023 6:00 PM

Your visited websites are being leaked to Bing by Microsoft Edge.

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Your visited URLs appear to be sent to the Bing API website by Microsoft's Edge browser.

Microsoft’s Edge browser is reportedly sending the URLs of pages visited by users to its Bing API site, raising concerns about privacy. Reddit users first discovered the issue, with the latest version of Edge reportedly sending a request to bingapis.com with the full URL of almost every page visited. Although Microsoft is investigating the issue, software engineer Rafael Rivera found that it is part of a poorly implemented new feature in Edge called “creator follow,”

which allows users to follow their favourite content creators. The feature appears to notify Bing when users visit certain pages, but instead, it sends nearly every domain visited to Bing. Microsoft has a filter to block URLs from sites such as Pornhub from being sent to Bing. Until Microsoft patches this problem, experts recommend turning off the creator follow feature in Edge.

Microsoft Edge is leaking the sites you visit to Bing - The Verge

Microsoft Edge Security Features

Microsoft Edge is a modern web browser that comes with several built-in security features to protect users from online threats. Some of the security features in Edge include:

  1. SmartScreen Filter: Edge has a built-in SmartScreen Filter that helps protect against phishing, malware, and socially engineered attacks. This feature checks the URLs of websites against a list of known malicious sites and warns the user if a site is suspicious.
  2. Tracking Prevention: Edge has a built-in tracking prevention feature that blocks trackers from collecting user data. This helps protect user privacy and prevent online tracking.
  3. Password Monitor: Edge’s Password Monitor feature alerts users if their login credentials have been compromised in a data breach.
  4. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen: This feature helps protect against malicious downloads and warns users if they attempt to download a potentially harmful file.
  5. InPrivate Browsing: Edge’s InPrivate Browsing feature allows users to browse the web without saving any history or cookies.
  6. Secure DNS: Edge uses secure Domain Name System (DNS) to encrypt all DNS queries, which helps protect against DNS hijacking and other online threats.

Overall, Microsoft Edge offers a range of security features designed to protect users from various online threats and enhance their online privacy.