Wednesday, November 18th 2020
Microsoft Announces Pluton Security Processor in Collaboration with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm
The security of PCs has been an issue in the past few years as cyber-attack methods have been undergoing a transformation to hardware-specific malware that exploits different vulnerabilities of CPUs. That is why Microsoft, the developer of the most popular operating system, Windows 10, decided to engineer a hardware processor that will protect the OS and its user by having a specific job of maintaining the platform security. In collaboration with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm, Microsoft is today introducing the Pluton security processor. The collaborator companies are going to integrate the new Pluton processor inside their CPUs and thus embed a new level of security in their PCs.
Today, the core of OS security is based on a separate component called a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). The TPM is located off the CPU and it is used to verify various platform parameters and store keys. Over the years, attackers have used the bus interface between the CPU and TPM to develop new exploits, however, with the Pluton core, those entries are removed, as the new TPM (Pluton processor) is inside the CPU and possibly even more secured.
The collaborating companies are set to integrate the Pluton processors in their future products. Each company is expected to integrate this processor with the launch of next-generation CPUs. It is currently unknown if this will include server-class processors or just desktop platforms.
Sources:
Microsoft, Forum member P4-630 (Thanks for the tip!)
MicrosoftOur vision for the future of Windows PCs is security at the very core, built into the CPU, where hardware and software are tightly integrated in a unified approach designed to eliminate entire vectors of attack. This revolutionary security processor design will make it significantly more difficult for attackers to hide beneath the operating system, and improve our ability to guard against physical attacks, prevent the theft of credential and encryption keys, and provide the ability to recover from software bugs.
The collaborating companies are set to integrate the Pluton processors in their future products. Each company is expected to integrate this processor with the launch of next-generation CPUs. It is currently unknown if this will include server-class processors or just desktop platforms.
23 Comments on Microsoft Announces Pluton Security Processor in Collaboration with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm
TPM may not be enough nowadays since a lot has changed in the architecture of the CPUs and they are more complex. This brings more performance but also more vulnerabilities.
Hardware protection is the best way to go.
This will be the TPM backdoor discussion all over again here
This honestly just looks like ME with extra steps. The Ryzen PSP is a Cortex-A5 that runs the firmware TPM function on Ryzen, and is generally still inferior to an actual discrete TPM.
Publish all the specs & info all over the web (if they haven't already), so the chineeze & ruskies can steal it, reverse-engineer it, and hack into ANY system that employs it, oh yea, uh huh.....this will definitely help improve our computer's security....
OR...
Perhaps this is the whole plan from the start, and they have designed it so that once active on any system located in an unfriendly foreign country, the NSA/CIA/DOD etc will be able to backdoor their way into all of THEIR computers, and steal some of THEIR shit for once, hahaha :)
YEA, right.....
You want the latest OS version? Latest drivers? Latest games? You need MS Account, MS Store, no 3rd-party drivers or homebrew software allowed.
The open PC may be dead as we know it, at least on Windows. The security aspect may just be a bonus thing, and exploited as a cover story.
I presume all platform specific security unsafe, as they can be hidden from the psp. It will just generate a new class of psp-rootkit viruses.