Windows
Windows
As we enter this new year, security remains a top concern as businesses continue to evolve and define their digital transformation strategies and what hybrid work means for their organizations and their employees. Over the last year, we've seen a 150% increase in ransomware attacks. Every second there are 579 password attacks, and since March 2020 we have seen a 667% increase in phishing attacks. While cloud-delivered protections and significant advancements in the Windows OS have made things more difficult for attackers, they continue to evolve as well – targeting the seams that exist between hardware and software and sensitive information like encryption keys and credentials within a device’s firmware. Security decision makers have taken note. The Microsoft Security Signals 2021 survey found that 80% believe that modern hardware, and not just software, is needed to protect against emerging threats. These modern, sophisticated threats, combined with today’s distributed workforce, require solutions that are designed to protect each layer of computing from the chip to the cloud. To deliver that for our customers, we’ve made several important strides with the release of , Windows 11 and the security processor. The Microsoft Pluton is a security processor, pioneered in Xbox and Azure Sphere, designed to store sensitive data, like encryption keys, securely within the Pluton hardware, which is integrated into the die of a device’s CPU and is therefore more difficult for attackers to access, even if they have physical possession of a device. This design helps ensure that emerging attack techniques cannot access key material. Today, we are thrilled to see and introduce one of the first Microsoft Pluton powered PCs. The new Lenovo device powered by AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processors introduces a valuable new hardware security capability for Windows customers, including:
- Security updates from the chip to the cloud
- The Pluton security processor’s firmware will be updateable through Windows Update along with controls. This tightly integrated hardware and software helps protect against security vulnerabilities by adding additional visibility and control, and provides a platform for innovation that allows customers to benefit from new features in future releases of Windows that leverage the Pluton hardware and, with this design, are adaptable to changes in the threat landscape.
- Physical attack resistance
- The Microsoft Security Signals 2021 survey showed that 70% of security decision makers were more concerned with the risk of device theft given the move to hybrid work. Even if the attacker has complete physical possession of the PC, the AMD Security Processor and Pluton are designed to co-exist on AMD client silicon to ensure constant communication, which helps to eliminate an attack vector that physical attackers could exploit.
- Trusted, proven security built alongside our partners built on approaches and technologies used in Xbox and Azure Sphere.