Microsoft has announced big changes that are coming to BitLocker encryption on Windows 11 in 2026. The company has unveiled a new 'hardware accelerated BitLocker' that will be available on new devices starting next year, which encrypts data faster using dedicated hardware instead of the CPU.
"Hardware-accelerated BitLocker brings faster and more secure disk encryption to Windows by leveraging modern SoC and CPUs," Microsoft explains. "Cryptographic operations are now offloaded from the main processor to dedicated hardware, boosting performance and reducing system overhead. On supported hardware, encryption keys are now hardware-protected by being wrapped and isolated at the silicon level, which helps to minimize exposure to CPU and memory vulnerabilities, and raises the bar for data protection."
