Microsoft Edge Could Be Storing Your Private Browsing Data

Most, if not all, browsers these days offer a private browsing mode. This comes in handy in households where the computer is shared by multiple people and you don’t want to have your personal information saved in the main browser, like usernames and passwords, history, and so on.

However if you are using the Microsoft Edge browser that comes bundled with Windows 10, you might want to rethink it because according to security researcher Ashish Singh in a post on Forensic Focus, the Edge browser is apparently saving your private browsing data. This was later confirmed by The Verge who claimed to have been able to partially confirm his findings.

Apparently what Microsoft has done is that they have been storing your private browsing data in a Container_n table that also stores tab history from your normal browsing sessions. This means that with some deduction, hackers will be able to determine which sites were viewed in private, and which sites weren’t.

The Edge browser isn’t the first to have such security leaks, As pointed out by The Verge, back in 2010, researchers found similar issues in other browsers like Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. That being said, a Microsoft spokesperson has since responded to those claims with a statement that reads, “We recently became aware of a report that claims InPrivate tabs are not working as designed and we are committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.”

In the meantime we guess if you really do need the privacy, then maybe you’ll want to switch browsers until this problem has been resolved.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Computers, Web
Tags: edge, Microsoft, Privacy, Security