Microsoft Pluton is a new processor with Xbox-like security for Windows PCs
Microsoft is creating a new security chip that's designed to protect future Windows PCs. Microsoft Pluton is a security processor that is built directly into future CPUs and will replace the existing Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a chip that's currently used to secure hardware and cryptographic keys. Pluton is based on the same security technologies used to protect Xbox consoles, and Microsoft is working with Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm to combine it into future CPUs.
[...] Just like you can't easily hack into an Xbox One to run pirated games, the hope is that it will be a lot more difficult to physically hack into a Windows PC in the future by integrating Pluton into the CPU.
Windows 10: Microsoft reveals Pluton security chip – 'Expect Patch Tuesday-type updates'
Microsoft promises Pluton will make it easier to keep system firmware up to date, for example, in cases when TPM firmware for separate security processors is required.
In Intel's case, the Pluton processor will ship with future chips but will be isolated from their cores. However, at present there's no precise timeline for the appearance of the first Intel chips containing the Pluton security processor.
Pluton will be integrated with the Windows Update process on Windows 10 PCs, according to Microsoft. The chip is an up-dateable platform for running firmware that implements end-to-end security that is authored, maintained, and updated by Microsoft.
The firmware updates will follow the same process that the Azure Sphere Security Service uses to connect to IoT devices.
"Microsoft Pluton Hardware Security Coming to Our CPUs": AMD, Intel, Qualcomm
What the Pluton project from Microsoft and the agreement between AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm will do is build a TPM-equivalent directly into the silicon of every Windows-based PC of the future. The Pluton architecture will, initially, build an emulated TPM to work with existing specifications for access to the current suites of security protocols in place. Because Pluton will be in-silicon, it severely reduces the physical attack surface of any Pluton-enabled device.
Also at TechCrunch.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Monday November 30 2020, @05:24PM (6 children)
And no more "activators" for your windows...
Guess we'll just have to wait to see what emerges and if Linux or BSD will run
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:40PM (4 children)
Trusted by whom?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday November 30 2020, @06:04PM (1 child)
By Microsoft and the media cartels. Basically it's one further step in taking control over your computer away from you. Of course they'll assure you that it's only for your best.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday November 30 2020, @06:34PM
Unfortunately, they're going to sell FUD to all kinds of willing and even eager customers who will write lock-out quotes and acquisition rules for their organizations, meaning that suppliers of products are going to have to bake in Pluton or something equivalent (equivalently flawed?) to meet these requirements.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @07:04PM (1 child)
Trusted by NAWBO (https://www.nawbo.org/), who else?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @07:50PM
Is it fair to have an equivalent organization for men only?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @07:41PM
Who the hell uses activators in 2020? There are far better ways to warez windus.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:26PM (3 children)
Used to be there were game crackers working on Xbox and industrial spies working on Windows OS/PC cracks. Now MS has given those two groups have a common goal!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 30 2020, @05:36PM (2 children)
I hear that there's not much interest in hacking Xbox (compared to PlayStation) due to the $19 "Developer Mode" that can be used to run various emulators [arstechnica.com]. But if this chip lands in all Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm CPUs, there will be plenty of interest to go around.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday November 30 2020, @06:12PM
Combine it with UBI and a decent connection, and nobody is going to care.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Wednesday December 02 2020, @01:11AM
There's also not much interest in the PS4 among hackers; there's a semi-jailbreak for some models, but nobody produced custom firmware, ways to connect to PSN, or anything like that. (Or at least, nothing that is shared with the public.) The PS3, PS Vita, and Nintendo 3DS/2DS were the last consoles to have a publicly active hacking community.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by canopic jug on Monday November 30 2020, @05:31PM (1 child)
The Xbox was never that much about games. Take a look at the early hardware as evidence. They could have picked a much better architecture. This move reinforces the view that the Xbox has mostly been a testbed for DRM in the PC world, partially to test the technologies and partially to see what and how and at what rate chumps will accept its integration.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @06:00PM
Such baloney...
Remember that these devices are designed and validated at the start-to-mid of a configuration lifecycle. So by the time they ship, they're already outdated. Their value lies in standardization: an XBox360 looks like so, an XBox One looks like thus, etc...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:39PM
WTF is a "Twisted Platypus Model"?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Monday November 30 2020, @06:37PM (2 children)
"Hack" to make it stop sending spying data back to Microsoft
"Hack" to make it not show annoying advertising.
"Hack" to bring back removed functionality.
"Hack" to run software you may need but someone doesn't approve of any more.
I think I'll just go back to my trusty old 286-12mhz.
(Score: 4, Informative) by WizardFusion on Monday November 30 2020, @07:53PM (1 child)
Your first two can be solved with Pi-Hole (https://pi-hole.net/)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday November 30 2020, @09:43PM
Well, one day your computer might refuse to work after a while if it can't connect to Microsoft.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday November 30 2020, @07:19PM (4 children)
What do we think the odds are that Linux (especially a compiled-from-source kernel), BSD, or any other operating system can be run on these machines without violating patents or copyrights or something like that? Because it current seems an awful lot like UEFI "secure" boot all over again.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @08:45PM (2 children)
UEFI "secure" boot didn't work. Some how those Linux ruffians still found a way to run on it anyway.
Microsoft Pluton will finally put an end to all this open source nonsense. "Kill it at the source" - Microsoft
(Score: 5, Funny) by Gaaark on Tuesday December 01 2020, @03:04AM (1 child)
They should call it Microsoft Uranus...n instead.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 3, Funny) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday December 01 2020, @11:32AM
Perhaps they were going for PlutonAsh, once it flops and the remains are righteously incinerated?
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday November 30 2020, @09:04PM
I dunno, it's pretty complex. Remember MS has been doing a lot with and in Linux / GNU stuff.
And, IBM owns Red Hat, so someone will produce motherboards and CPUs that will run Red Hat, at least. Or we just keep our old bootable systems running until someone hacks around it, or someone else produces non-Pluton hardware.
Hopefully the CPU manufacturers will produce both- with and without Pluton. But knowing MS, they'll try to rope everyone into an all-or-nothing agreement. "You must include Pluton in all of your CPUs or we will not "certify" your CPU for Windows."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @07:48PM (1 child)
disgusting scum. i wait for the day when there are ted kainskis (plural) for these companies to deal with. fuck these motherfuckers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @08:14PM
You can't wait. You have to do it yourself.
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Monday November 30 2020, @10:26PM (2 children)
Glad to see they are still up.
I guess I'll be snatching a bunch of 'old' pc's before this becomes the norm.
Rogue Spear: Urban Ops ftw
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @12:14AM (1 child)
Razor Crest PCs?
(Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Tuesday December 01 2020, @06:59AM
For all intents and purposes, Yes.
(Good one. I lol'd)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @10:33PM
The age of corporate ransomware.
Do not forget your monthly fees to keep your computer running.
(Score: 4, Funny) by istartedi on Tuesday December 01 2020, @12:47AM (1 child)
In the future... "Daddy, who was Donald Trump?".
Father: Our 45th president. They say he was as smart as Apple's phones, and as trusted as Microsoft's platforms.
Son: Dad, come on. Nobody could be that bad.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @02:00AM
Daughter: no, I looked it up on Wikipedia, it's real. He had the class of Facebook, grabbing genitals. He had the ego of Google. He had the debt of Twitter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @03:49AM
Not much different:
Microsoft's Pluton Chip Upgrades the Hardware Security of Windows PCs [soylentnews.org]