Security News > 2022 > January > For those worried about Microsoft's Pluton TPM chip: Lenovo won't even switch it on by default in latest ThinkPads

Lenovo at CES announced new ThinkPads with AMD's Ryzen chips, and the laptops will ship without Pluton turned on.

"Pluton will be disabled by default on 2022 Lenovo ThinkPad platforms. Specifically the Z13, Z16, T14, T16, T14s, P16s and X13 using AMD 6000-series processors. Customers will have the ability to enable Pluton themselves," a Lenovo spokesperson told The Register.

Pluton is designed for Windows running on PCs, and using it with Linux "Is currently an unsupported scenario," a Microsoft spokesperson told The Register.

Microsoft largely collaborates with chip makers to tune processors for Windows, though Pluton marks a milestone in Microsoft's growing efforts to develop custom silicon.

Pluton for PCs evolved from security subsystems in the Xbox console family and the Azure Sphere IoT platform, which includes an Arm-based microcontroller and Linux OS. Microsoft has said Pluton provides "Chip to cloud" security, with firmware updates coming through Windows Update.

PC makers can choose to ship computers with Pluton turned off, and the technology does not verify the signature of bootloaders, Microsoft PR said.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/01/20/microsoft_amd_pluton_lenovo/