Microsoft Edge will begin blocking screenshots on the job

[6Foot2]

Link: Microsoft Edge will begin blocking screenshots on the job | PCWorld

 

If you use the Microsoft Edge browser at work, your days of texting a screenshot of a web page to your spouse or coworker are nearly over. Microsoft is adding screenshot prevention controls to Edge.

 

It’s all designed to prevent you from sharing screenshots with competitors, relatives, and journalists using Microsoft Edge for Business. “Screenshot prevention policies will secure against data exfiltration in the browser by blocking the ability to take screenshots on pages labeled as sensitive or protected,” Microsoft said.

 

Specifically, IT managers at corporations will be able to tag web pages as protected, as defined in various Microsoft policy engines in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Intune Mobile Application Management and Microsoft Purview, Microsoft said. The screenshot prevention feature will be available to customers in the “coming months,” Microsoft said. It’s also unclear whether third-party tools will be somehow blocked from taking screenshots or recording video, too.

 

Microsoft will also roll out a way to force Edge for Business users to automatically update their browsers. The feature will enter a preview phase over the next few weeks, Microsoft said.

 

“The Edge management service will enable IT admins to see which devices have Edge instances that are out of date and at risk,” Microsoft said. “It will also provide mitigating controls, such as forcing a browser restart to install updates, enabling automatic browser updates or enabling enhanced security mode for added protections.”

 

The latter initiative to force updates seems smart, given that there’s a real risk of zero-day attacks. Whether Microsoft is able to block screenshots being taken (as opposed to just snapped with a smartphone camera) remains to be seen.

[Norphy]

So people will just use Chrome or Firefox to take screenshots instead?

 

/edit That said, thinking about it a bit more, these are presumably corporate desktops, so you could have it so that the only browser that's installed is Edge and users will be prevented from installing or running any others via GPO, Intune or Applocker. Still doesn't get around the whole mobile phone problem though.

Edited May 23, 2024 by Norphy

[Michael]

Curious how this will sit with Safeguarding software. The more serious the keyword or phrase, the Safeguarding software generally sends a screenshot to the DSL as well the as keyword or phrased captured.

 

It may still work, as it's running as a service rather than a key combination from the end user.

 

The alternative is use a Smartphone or Tablet or another browser (as above). I don't see any real benefit to this new policy, as it's easy to workaround.

[jthompson]

But how will Copilot be able to assist me in my important corporate work if a pesky admin deems a page unscreenshotable?

\s

 

On a more serious note, I wonder if this is going to use the same mechanisms by which DRM video content in a browser is made unscreenrecordable. Reliant on having hardware acceleration enabled in the browser... or so I've heard.

[mavhc]

Or just take a photo on your phone

 

Also how can you text a screenshot?

[jthompson]

Also how can you text a screenshot?

 

Power Toys Text Extractor.

[pacapps]

So, will this stop snipping tool?

 

Couldn't you just print the page to .pdf and send that?

 

Also, if it was me, I would take a photo with my phone and send from that - no evidence on company equipment then.

Edited May 23, 2024 by pacapps

[Roberto]

Sometimes the objective isn't to make it impossible, but to make it impossible to do easily or by "accident" - which would be useful if disciplinary action were taken. Or to increase the amount of effort necessary to deter the casual rulebreaker. This is similar to securing your home - if someone is determined to get in they will but you can do things to make the casual burglar decide to burgle the house two streets over instead of yours.