What is Palladium?

Palladium was a security architecture proposed by Microsoft, intended to provide a more secure computing environment. It aimed to do this through hardware and software integration, enabling trusted execution and data protection. However, it was highly controversial due to concerns about user control, potential for digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, and reduced software flexibility. The technology was never fully realized in its originally conceived form, but elements of its concepts influenced later security features in operating systems and hardware, such as Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) and secure boot.