Microsoft is changing how you sign into a Microsoft account. Starting next month, you will remain signed it automatically, so make sure to log out if you’re using a public computer.
At the moment, when you sign into a Microsoft account, a message pops up asking if you want to stay signed in. However, in February, this will be automatic.
There are enough scammers trying to access your personal information, and leaving your account open on a public machine would be easy pickings, which is why understanding this change could make a big difference for your online security.
What Do You Need To Do?
If you are using a public computer, the best option is to use private browsing and scribble yourself a reminder to sign out until it becomes your standard practice. This is something that Gmail users have gotten used to doing.
However, there is also a backstop. If you leave where you have been working but have forgotten to sign out, Microsoft and Outlook users have the option of forcing sign out everywhere from their accounts. Following the instructions on this link to do this.
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Passkey Support
Microsoft has slowly added passkey support to its systems, in a bid to get customers to move away from passwords. It kicked off last May, when Microsoft announced passkey support for Xbox, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Copilot users.
In a blog post in December, the company said that the “password era is ending.” It added that “bad actors know it” and this has seen a spike in password-related attacks.
“At Microsoft, we block 7,000 attacks on passwords per second—almost double from a year ago. At the same time, we’ve seen adversary-in-the-middle phishing attacks increase by 146% year over year,” it writes.
The Advantages of Passkeys
Passkeys can be a fingerprint, face scan, or a PIN, and Microsoft argues that they are far more effective against hacking than passwords. Here is where you can create your passkeys.
There are notable advantages for passkeys, not least for those of us who regularly forget our passwords. Passkeys like fingerprints or faces can’t be lost, after all. They are also a better defense against phishing attacks.
However, there can be issues with passkeys because of cross platform compatibility, functionality with older devices, and their need for certain hardware security modules.
For the moment though, Microsoft users working on public machines just need to remind themselves to log out and perhaps think about setting up their passkeys once they have this figured out.
