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Windows PCs have this useful snipping tool that is an alternative way to capture select parts of images instead of taking screenshots. Windows 11 also got the tool, but this week, users with a Windows 11 PC got a concerning update regarding the privacy of this tool.

Security experts have found a bug that basically lets people gather data from images that have been captured using the snipping tool. The same issue has been observed in the Google Pixel’s Markup tool, but now Windows 11 users also need to be careful about this bug.

The security folks also developed a screenshot recovery tool to prove the privacy concern is legit. The bug is dubbed as ‘acropalypse’ by the experts who believe the modus operandi of the bug is very complex but quite effective in the way it can pick up the traces from the saved image.

So what exactly is the issue with this bug? Experts say that when you open a file in the snipping tool on a Windows 11 PC and overwrite an existing file, you can still see the taxes of data left behind, which can be recovered by anyone with the technical know-how.

Having this bug will generally not pose any concern but there are instances where people try to capture images using the Snip tool that carries some personal details, and in such cases, bad actors could take advantage of the bug to steal the information and eventually steal money from people with such details.

Having said that, the bug does not allow the hacker to access the full image, which could ease the concerns of the users. Microsoft has been informed about the bug and the company has been quoted saying by BleepingComputer that it is aware about the problem and investigating. It will take the required action to protect its customers, the company added.

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