
That means it has to store its encryption keys on the hard drive, and makes it much less secure. It has no way to store encryption keys in a TPM.

This is one reason why the older Windows EFS encryption technology isn’t as good. That’s why the “recovery key” for BitLocker is quite a bit longer - you need that longer recovery key to access your data if you move the drive to another computer. That encryption key is partially stored in the TPM, so you actually need your Windows login password and the same computer the drive is from to get access. You normally just gain access to an encrypted drive by typing your Windows login password, but it’s protected with a longer encryption key than that. Enable BitLocker disk encryption and Windows will use a TPM to store the encryption key. Just sign in with a Microsoft account on a modern PC that ships with “device encryption” enabled and it’ll use encryption. Modern versions of Windows use the TPM transparently. Encryption, Encryption, Encryptionįor most people, the most relevant use case here will be encryption. This chip provides hardware-based authentication and tamper detection, so an attacker can’t attempt to remove the chip and place it on another motherboard, or tamper with the motherboard itself to attempt to bypass the encryption - at least in theory. This means an attacker can’t just remove the drive from the computer and attempt to access its files elsewhere. So, if you’re using BitLocker encryption or device encryption on a computer with the TPM, part of the key is stored in the TPM itself, rather than just on the disk. The TPM generates encryption keys, keeping part of the key to itself. If you built your own computer, you can buy one as an add-on module if your motherboard supports it.

The TPM is a chip that’s part of your computer’s motherboard - if you bought an off-the-shelf PC, it’s soldered onto the motherboard.
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RELATED: How to Set Up BitLocker Encryption on Windows
