At first glance, Windows 11 looks like Windows 10 with a few cosmetic changes. Under the hood, however, Windows 11 introduced several enhanced security features unavailable with Windows 10. Many of these features are now enforced by default or require specific hardware to function optimally. Here’s a breakdown of the key differences and how these will impact your test systems.
Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 support VBS and HVCI, but in Windows 11 these features are more tightly integrated and enabled by default on supported hardware. VBS isolates critical parts of the system to protect against kernel-level exploits, while HVCI ensures only trusted code—signed by the vendor with an approved certificate—and runs in kernel mode.
Windows 11 mandates the use of a TPM 2.0 chip, which is optional in Windows 10. TPM chips can be used by the operating system or your test application to store encrypted information. This technology enables features like the following examples:
This requirement enables Windows 11 to support passwordless authentication and stronger protection against phishing and credential theft.
While Secure Boot is available in Windows 10, Windows 11 emphasizes its use more strongly. Secure Boot ensures that only trusted software is loaded during startup, reducing the risk of boot-level malware.
Check with your software providers to ensure they have tested for Windows 11 compliance.
Both OS versions support BitLocker, but Windows 11 leverages TPM more effectively to bind encryption keys to the device, enhancing protection against data theft from lost or stolen devices.
Document encryption in your system and create a strategy for the safe storage of encryption keys.
Windows 11 integrates Windows Hello more deeply, using TPM to store biometric credentials securely. This feature makes it easier to deploy passwordless authentication across organizations.
Pluton is a chip-to-cloud security technology that’s embedded directly into the CPU. It’s designed to provide stronger protection for sensitive data, such as encryption keys, credentials, and personal information, by isolating them from the rest of the system—even from the firmware and operating system. Being built into the CPU (rather than being a separate chip, like TPM) means that it’s even harder to tamper with. A Pluton CPU acts as a TPM 2.0 device.
As an end user, you probably will not be impacted by whether your system is using a TPM chip or a Pluton processor. Your system will be more secure and protected from memory vulnerabilities that use a memory error in one software application to get data from another software application. Pluton helps protect against this.
Windows 11 integrates deeper security controls, identity protections, and hardware-based defenses to align with the core principles of Zero Trust: Verify explicitly, use least-privilege access, and assume breach.
If you haven’t already done so, adopt a secure development framework to ensure you are implementing best practices in your development process.
Microsoft is ending mainstream support for Windows 10 General Availability Channel (GA) Versions on October 14, 2025, prompting many IT departments to migrate to Windows 11 to maintain security updates and compliance
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