Microsoft inadvertently published a Secure Boot “golden key” policy that allows for self-signed or unsigned binaries to be loaded on Windows devices.

Thanks to Microsoft, the Linux Foundation's program for booting Linux easily on Windows 8 PCs protected with Secure Boot is still stuck in neutral.

There were no actual software keys involved when anonymous researchers claimed that Microsoft had leaked so-called 'golden keys' to the Windows secure boot protection scheme, according to an ...

They tinkered. They had to go a step further and added Secure Boot. This is an extension to UEFI that restricts booting to just systems that have been cryptographically signed using a trusted key.

Microsoft accidentally shipped a security policy that destroys its own Secure Boot system -- and demonstrates in the process why security that relies on so-called "golden keys" can never work.

The "golden key", that is, a key to a hallowed backdoor, to Microsoft's Secure Boot implementation has just been leaked.

With Microsoft ending Windows 10 updates on October 14, 2025, millions of users must upgrade to Windows 11. This operating ...

Microsoft implemented a 'secure golden key' system. And the golden keys got released from MS own stupidity. Now, what happens if you tell everyone to make a 'secure golden key' system?

Torvalds strongly objects to Windows 8 secure boot keys in the Linux kernel Linux founder Linus Torvalds makes no bones about it. He thinks inserting signed binaries into the Linux kernel is ...

A real golden key would be the private key for signing code for Secure Boot, which would be effectively unstoppable, but this is different.