14 DAY TRIAL // Last month, a security study revealed that Microsoft Edge browser collected information about websites visited in private mode even after closing the session, thus exposing the history even when it was not supposed to do it.
But according to Microsoft itself, this bug was fixed on Patch Tuesday with a dedicated update for Edge browser, and yet, it turns out that the issue only got worse.
A Reddit discussion reveals that, after applying the update, Edge browser not only continues to store information on the websites visited in private mode but it also shows it in the history tab, thus making it easily accessible to anyone else. Previously, web browsing history was stored in a dedicated folder that was harder to reach for the average Joe, so this new bug makes it easy as pie to see websites visited in the InPrivate mode.
Only happening on some Windows 10 installs
What’s odd, however, is that the bug only seems to exist on a number of computers, and not all Windows 10 installs appear to be impacted, according to posts in this Reddit thread.
“Still happening. I just restarted the PC, clear all Edge cache and history, opened up a new InPrivate window, went to reddit.com and there it is in the normal session history dropdown menu. I open up a new tab, go to imgur.com and there it is in the normal session,” one user explains, adding that the testing was performed on a fully up-to-date computer and the history was there even after closing the session and relaunching the browser.
At this moment, there is no workaround on a PC impacted by the problem, and the easiest way to determine whether you have the same issue or not is to clear all Edge history, open the InPrivate mode, load any website, close the browser, and then check history once again. If the visited website is there, then you have the bug, otherwise you’re good to go.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft to see if the company is aware of this problem and will update the article should more information be provided.