Security News > 2023 > March > Windows 11 gets phishing protection boost and SHA-3 support
Microsoft announced that the new Windows 11 build rolling out to Insiders in the Canary channel comes with increased protection against phishing attacks and support for SHA-3 cryptographic hash functions.
Enhanced Phishing Protection is a Defender SmartScreen feature introduced with the release of Windows 11 22H2 in September 2022 and is designed to protect user credentials against phishing attacks.
While phishing protection is enabled by default on Windows 11 22H2 systems, the password protection options are disabled but can be enabled from Start > Settings > Privacy & security > Windows Security > App & browser control > Reputation-based protection settings.
"Starting in Windows 11, version 22H2, Enhanced Phishing Protection in Microsoft Defender SmartScreen helps protect Microsoft school or work passwords against phishing and unsafe usage on sites and apps," Microsoft's Amanda Langowski and Brandon LeBlanc said.
"We are trying out a change starting with this build where users who have enabled warning options for Windows Security under App & browser control > Reputation-based protection > Phishing protection will see a UI warning on unsafe password copy and paste, just as they currently see when they type in their password."
Microsoft also announced support for SHA-3 cryptographic hash functions introduced with this Windows 11 Canary build through the Windows CNG library.