Technology giant Microsoft today announced a new security chip that the company has developed to protect future Windows-powered computers. The chip is called Microsoft Pluton and will be directly built into future CPUs.
Therefore, the Microsoft Pluton chip will replace the existing Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, which is currently used to protect hardware and encryption keys.
It integrates chips into future Intel, AMD and Qualcomm processor units. The company said this will make it more difficult for hackers who physically access the system to launch hardware attacks and extract sensitive data.
Microsoft Pluton was first launched on Xbox One in 2013, making it more difficult for gamers to hack the console or run pirated games. It was later used in the company’s cloud service Azure Sphere for low-cost IoT devices.
Now, the technology giant is bringing the same technology to Windows 10 powered computing devices and making some improvements.
Unlike the existing CPU-independent TPM, this new Pluton looks like an evolution and already supports the CPU. David Weston, Microsoft’s director of enterprise and operating system security, said the new chip has a better, more powerful, faster, and more consistent TPM.
Therefore, in the future, features like BitLocker encryption or Windows Hello authentication will be transitioned to use Pluton.
Currently, it is not known when computers equipped with this new MS Pluton chip will start shipping, but as mentioned earlier, brands such as Intel, AMD and Qualcomm have agreed to integrate the chip into their future CPUs.
In addition, Pluton should be used to build custom PCs, and it is said that it will support Linux in the future.
