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Microsoft Unveils Game-Changing BitLocker for Windows 11

12/26/2025

Summary

Story summary

Microsoft has launched hardware-accelerated BitLocker encryption for Windows 11, announced at Ignite 2025, offloading encryption to dedicated cryptography accelerators.
The change aims to improve storage performance and battery life by reducing CPU usage by over 70%.
Initial support will be on Intel vPro devices using the upcoming Core Ultra series 3 CPUs, with gradual rollout.
Benchmarks show significant improvements in random read and write speeds versus software-based BitLocker.

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Story summary

Microsoft has launched hardware-accelerated BitLocker encryption for Windows 11, announced at Ignite 2025, offloading encryption to dedicated cryptography accelerators.
The change aims to improve storage performance and battery life by reducing CPU usage by over 70%.
Initial support will be on Intel vPro devices using the upcoming Core Ultra series 3 CPUs, with gradual rollout.
Benchmarks show significant improvements in random read and write speeds versus software-based BitLocker.