New Microsoft Windows 11 security tool aims to deter password hackers

Microsoft has unveiled a new security feature in Windows 11 that will make it extremely diffficult for hackers to steal user credentials.

Called the SMB authentication rate limiter, it is available in Windows 11 Insider and Windows Server Insider builds and makes it more time-consuming for cyber criminals to target the server with password-guessing attacks.

“If your organisation has no intrusion detection software or doesn’t set a password lockout policy, an attacker might guess a user’s password in a matter of days or hours. A consumer user who turns off their firewall and brings their device to an unsafe network has a similar problem,” said Microsoft security expert Ned Pyle.