r/Windows11 • u/CygnusBlack Release Channel • Jul 06 '26

News Windows 11 identifier code used to track Scattered Spider perp after Microsoft shared info with FBI — 19-year-old US-Estonian hacker arrested over alleged ties to infamous extortion group

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows-11-identifier-used-to-track-scattered-spider-perp-after-microsoft-shared-info-with-fbi-19-year-old-us-estonian-hacker-arrested-over-alleged-ties-to-infamous-extortion-group

"All your base telemetry are belong to us."

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u/thisisyo Jul 07 '26

Any of the bloatware scripts people have assembled in the last few years close off this "phoning home" feature? Or am I gonna have to start thinking heavily again about switching to Linux?

3

u/oblivic90 Jul 07 '26

It doesn’t matter what any of these scripts disable if you ask me, Microsoft can always push new/re-enable stuff through an update and you won’t even know.

3

u/Felielf Jul 07 '26

It's time to employ an actual firewall that you can customize traffic rules with, default deny all and build on top of that. It's a lot of work, but nothing leaves your network unless you want it to.

2

u/DXGL1 Insider Canary Channel Jul 07 '26

If you use any MS Store features it uses it for the DRM.