Only two short days ago, we told you about the decision taken by AMD to no longer offer the encryption hardware exchanges between the CPU and the RAM to its processors Ryzen AM5 general public. A feature called TSME by AMD, for Transparent Secure Memory Encryption. There were probably many ways to do this, and AMD decided to go about it in one of the worst ways possible… behind consumers’ backs and, worse, potentially leading them to believe that TSME was in fact still active, since the menu to enable it in the BIOS was still present. But, in reality, since AGESA 1.2.7.0, access is prohibited to TSME for “normal” Ryzen processors from the start of the computer, the BIOS no longer has control over this option at all. Caught red-handed, AMD simply said that it now decided that TSME would only be available on its Ryzen PRO, full stop.
Well no, the story is actually not over, and it is undoubtedly following the “bad buzz” that followed that AMD decided to change its approach. The hardware press seized on the story and spread it, social networks also came alive with comments that were sometimes very harsh towards AMD, and the firm must have ended up believing that the game was not worth the effort.
AMD has therefore contacted our colleagues at Tom’s Hardware, so that they can issue an official press release on the subject of this “drama”. Here is a French translation:
We take the security of our customers’ data very seriously.
AMD Memory Guard (Transparent Secure Memory Encryption, or TSME) is a hardware-based memory encryption technology available on our Ryzen PRO desktop and mobile processors, where supported by silicon. This is a fundamental security feature, and we have no plans to remove its support in our Ryzen PRO lineup. This commitment is valid today and will remain so in the future.
For certain non-PRO Ryzen 9000-series desktop processors, a BIOS option to enable Memory Guard was previously available, but was removed in a recent update. Following valuable feedback from the community, we will reinstate this option in a future version of the BIOS scheduled for July.
Two points really raise eyebrows in this press release. First of all, there is a misleading passage, we can say the word. AMD mentions the removal of the option in the BIOS allowing TSME to be activated, although this is not the case. This statement is quite distressing, because AMD is trying to hide, as we said, the fact that this option in the BIOS remained present, and users who had activated TSME therefore continued for several weeks to think that their TSME was still active, while AMD had bypassed the BIOS option upstream, at the very moment of booting the computer.
Another passage that raises questions: AMD focuses in its press release only on the Ryzen 9000 processors, while, barring any surprises, the Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 8000G have also lost TSME in history. We will therefore monitor next month under what conditions this return really takes place on AMD’s side, and if it is done well for all consumer AM5 CPUs.
Finally, let’s still mention a third point, very clumsy at best: the way AMD has to pose as “responsible for BIOS” when these are obviously developed by motherboard manufacturers.
In short, once again poorly understood communication, it should not become a habit…
