McAfee Announces Chip Level Security Products

McAfee has announced its first security products designed to work at chip level, McAfee Deep Defender and ePO Deep Command, an extension to its endpoint security management tool ePolicy Orchestrator.

McAfee Deep Defender launches before the operating system and, according to McAfee, is capable of detecting nearly all kernel-mode malware.

Working with Intel

McAfee worked with Intel during its development with the aim of delivering hardware assisted security and Deep Defender is designed to work on Intel i3, i5 and i7 processors.

Deep Defender utilises McAfee’s DeepSafe technology which allows Deep Defender to recognise evasive techniques employed by stealthy malware and gives administrators a real-time view of memory processes, enabling configurable block or deny actions.

For suspected and unknown stealth techniques attempting to load in memoty, Deep Defender sends a fingerprint of the code to the McAfee Global Threat intelligence network and carries out the configured block, remediate or quarantine action.

Todd Gebhart, co-president of McAfee declared, “The bad guys are getting smarter about hiding malware, but they can’t hide it when interacting with the hardware, memory or operating system. We can now detect these interactions, and provide an unprecedented level of protection to our customers by blocking an entirely new range of stealthy threats.”

Working as an extension to its endpoint security management tool ePolicy Orchestrator, ePO Deep Command uses Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) to allow administrators to provide remote security management access to PC’s that may be powered-off or disabled, allowing for wake and patch systems and power management systems.

Rick Echevarria, vice president of Intel Architecture Group and general of manager of Business Client Platforms at Intel said, “With the ePO Deep Command taking advantage of unique vPro capabilities, IT regains control over its PC fleet through remote remediation of compromised systems, cost and power-saving opportunities, and the application of policy-based proactive security measures beyond what can be provided within the OS alone.”

Currently, up to 80 per cent of company PC’s are left on overnight so that IT departments can apply patches during that time and many are completely unaware of the benefits of power management technology. However a new report has indicated that demand will grow due to increasing energy prices.