Microsoft is using an ad disguised as a recommendation to get business Defender users to install the Edge browser. This installation occurs unseen when the user activates a recommended feature.
Microsoft is surreptitiously getting business users of Microsoft Defender to install its Edge browser when they follow a recommendation, writes The Register. This takes place when they activate the suggested “in-browser protection with Microsoft Edge for Business”.
It looks like a simple recommendation, but is essentially just an advertisement without users recognizing it as such.
Edge for Business
Using Edge for Business, business administrators can separate personal and business browser profiles. This ensures that data is not leaked between the two profiles.
The in-browser protection functionality allows users of Defender for Cloud Apps and Microsoft Edge for Business, based on session policies, to receive the same protection as through a reverse proxy. All without potential latency and compatibility issues.
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Microsoft’s response
In a response, Microsoft indicates that a public preview for the direct integration of Defender for Cloud Apps with Edge for Business was recently released. However, according to Microsoft, administrators can disable this integration as they wish.
In itself, these are all good intentions, but to push functionality by making an ad look like a recommendation is highly questionable. Microsoft has previously been accused of secretly pushing its Edge browser to business users, and the same was true of Internet Explorer, its predecessor.
Earlier this year, Mozilla released a report accusing Microsoft of going out of its way to influence end users’ free browser choices to its own advantage.
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