Intel Wants to Sic McAfee on Malware With Virus-Fighting Chips [Intel]

The inside track of Intel’s very expensive McAfee purchase raises one obvious question: why is security software worth over $7 billion to a chip maker? Intel has been short on specifics, but it surely’s becoming clear that virus-killing silicon is the long run.

Computer security with hardware roots isn’t new for Intel, nonetheless it’s stuck in last-gen tech which can’t stop your system from getting smoked. Feature sets which could help filter malicious network traffic or let CPUs screen for certain worms were safeguarding computers you’ve already thrown away by now. But they’re limited. Right away, many of the anti-malware grunt work is being handled by software. Letting applications do the heavy lifting is a resource-heavy affair, which makes chipmakers like Intel nervous after they look forward and spot the long run of computing floating inside the cloud.

The problem with security within the cloud is twofold. To start with, netbooks and tablets usually just don’t have the muscle to balance intensive malware efforts. Do you believe you studied your anemic netbook can root out marauding trojans, scanning thousands of files, in addition as your desktop? But what about just putting the safety software within the cloud too? This ends up in a second objection: can we really need our sensitive stuff floating out of our devices? Will people feel comfortable having their secrets scanned remotely? Intel doesn’t think so-and says it has a solution.

After we interviewed Intel’s head tech honcho, CTO Justin Rattner in June, he had much to assert in regards to the intersection of cloud computing and secure computing. And the longer term of beating viruses, consistent with Intel, lies within the chips that drive our devices, not some program running within the background. ” As silicon developers,” Rattner explained, ” we’ve got a requirement to produce truly secure capability when it’s needed.” This suggests malware-fighting hardware is a new mandate. Rattner asserts that their hardware ambitions are to ” protect those systems from the varied varieties of malware and then, further, giving them the power to keep their secrets notwithstanding what happens.” Which sounds a bit abstract, right? But put it in context: Rattner’s plan sounds pretty real as of presently.

While discussing the inside track of their acquisition today, Intel minced no words about where their pricey new subsidiary will take them. McAfee technology will likely be put on Intel silicon. Virus scanning, trojan hunting, buffer overflow-blocking-all chase away before it has a bet to touch your software. McAfee’s line of applications will continue to sell as is, but Intel simply doesn’t believe that the long run of computer security could be done with software alone. Malware keeps getting meaner. To block viruses, you must hit them as soon as possible, which suggests as deep into the hardware as possible. Consider it as the adaptation between swatting flies on your kitchen and just keeping your windows closed inside the first place.

Intel’s processors won’t change for now, but after we asked them concerning the deal’s implications for architecture changes down the line, they confirmed that the era of an antivirus-on-a-chip lies ahead-with a mysterious new hardware product slated for 2011. Due to Moore’s Law, Intel could have more real estate to fill with security mechanisms-courtesy of McAfee’s R&D labs. Whether secure silicon takes the type of hardware acceleration for virus-sniffing heuristics, or something else entirely, continues to be seen. But if Intel makes good on its promises (and on the nearly $8 billion it forked over), that folder of photos you regret will stay safe with no need to climb to the cloud.

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This post is tagged: chips, Intel, malware, mcafee, Wants