Windows 11 gets sha-3 support and password paste warning

The new Windows 11 Insider preview build in the Canary Channel, number 25324, comes with support for sha-3 functions and algorithms in the cng library. In addition, users are now warned if they copy and paste an insecure password.

It’s alright to be specific about the following sha-3 hash functions: sha3-256, sha3-384, and sha3-512. The supported sha-3-hmac algorithms are mac-sha3-256, hmac-sha3-384, and hmac-sha3-512. Furthermore, a number of algorithms derived from sha-3 are also supported: shake128, shake256, kmac128, kmac256, kmacxof128 and kmacxof256.

In addition, users who have checked the warning options under Phishing Protection in Windows Security starting with this build will see a pop-up if they copy and paste an “insecure” password into a site’s passwords field. Previously, the popup only appeared if they entered the password manually.

The Insider build also adds a larger widget board, with three columns instead of two. In addition, the widgets must also be better organized, says Microsoft, with a “clear separation” between the different sections. Some widgets on the taskbar, such as the weather icon, also get short animations when users move their mouse over them.

The popup that appears when pasting the insecure password