Security News > 2021 > March > Azure flings out free virtual trusted platform module for cloudy VMs

Microsoft has revealed that its Azure IaaS platform now offers free a virtual trusted platform module.

Dubbed "Azure Trusted Launch for virtual machines" and launched as a preview on March 8th, Microsoft's CTO for Azure Mark Russinovich said the new offering "Allows administrators to deploy virtual machines with verified and signed bootloaders, OS kernels, and a boot policy that leverages the Trusted Launch Virtual Trusted Platform Module to measure and attest to whether the boot was compromised."

Google brought virtual TPM to its cloud in mid-2018 and made it the default server configuration in April 2020.

For now, only freshly-created VMs can use Trusted Launch.

Microsoft's product documentation says it's targeted general availability of the service to make it applicable to existing VMs. If the service detects suspicious activity during boot, users will see medium-severity alert in the standard tier Azure Security Center.

The Register fancies that the inclusion of the desktop OSes will make it more practical to use BitLocker in virtual desktops.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/03/09/azure_vtpm_trusted_launch_preview/