Microsoft Reveals Pluton, a Custom Security Chip Built Into Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm Processors

An anonymous reader shares a report: For the past two years, some of the world's biggest chip makers have battled a series of hardware flaws, like Meltdown and Spectre, which made it possible -- though not easy -- to pluck passwords and other sensitive secrets directly from their processors. The chip makers rolled out patches, but required the companies to rethink how they approach chip security. Now, Microsoft thinks it has the answer with its new security chip, which it calls Pluton. The chip, announced today, is the brainchild of a partnership between Microsoft, and chip makers Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. Pluton acts as a hardware root-of-trust, which in simple terms protects a device's hardware from tampering, such as from hardware implants or by hackers exploiting flaws in the device's low-level firmware. By integrating the chip inside future Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm central processor units, or CPUs, it makes it far more difficult for hackers with physical access to a computer to launch hardware attacks and extract sensitive data, the companies said. "The Microsoft Pluton design will create a much tighter integration between the hardware and the Windows operating system at the CPU that will reduce the available attack surface," said David Weston, director of enterprise and operating system security at Microsoft.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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