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A previous HN link is here -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25131431 -- which links to MS's original press release -- https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2020/11/17/meet-the-... . That article explicitly states that it was designed originally for the xbox. I worry that going to be a very anti-consumer, anti-free-speech, DRM heavy chip that MS want to popularise as an alternative to the (still hated in some…
Is Pluton specifically Windows related? Will this affect how easy it is to run Linux on hardware using Pluton?
If Qualcomm is implementing it, I'm sure it will on a technical level. Linux is important to AMD and Intel, but Linux-running devices represent nearly all of Qualcomm's non-embedded SOC market. Whether vendors can use it to restrict such things, I don't think anyone can say right now, but I would guess and hope not. The TPM does not.
CPUs with security modules controlled by MS? Who will guarantee it won't be abused against non MS systems and users?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Booting Linux is really a policy question, not technical.
Is it a policy question without Pluton? I.e. will this allow hardware vendors additional means to prevent me from installing Linux?
No. Pluton serves as an on-chip secure enclave for encryption keys and the like. This is unrelated to installing operating systems.
Isn't this basically fTPM (basically software TPM implemented in the trusted execution environment of the CPU) that both AMD and Intel already offer?
Here’s a blog by the engineer lead on Azure Sphere that discusses Pluton: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/anatomy-of-a-secured-...
Disclaimer: I still work at MSFT but in a different org.
Is Pluton specifically Windows related? Will this affect how easy it is to run Linux on hardware using Pluton?
> 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. CPUs with security modules controlled by MS? Who will guarantee it won't be abused against non MS systems and users?
I worked extensively with Pluton when I was employed on Azure Sphere (an IoT platform marketed as highly secure and composed of a linux-based OS, ARM SoC, and cloud service). I might be able to answer questions about this. Here’s a blog by the engineer lead on Azure Sphere that discusses Pluton: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/anatomy-of-a-secured-... Disclaimer: I still work at MSFT but in a different org.