Intel: Adds hardware-based ransomware detection to Core vPro

As announced by Intel at CES 2021, the company has added hardware-based ransomware detection to its new Core vPro processors .

The new feature is based on Intel Threat Detection Technology (Intel TDT) and Hardware Shield running directly on the CPU.

Intel Hardware Shield is a built-in security feature that directly protects the CPU hardware:

• It helps prevent malicious codeby restricting memory access in the BIOS at runtime.
• It enables dynamic booting of the operating system and hypervisor into an Intel® hardware-protected code environment, inaccessible to firmware. This technique also helps verify that the operating system and its virtual environment are running directly on Intel hardware, as opposed to malware that spoofs the hardware.
• Provides operating system visibility into BIOS and firmware protection methods used during boot.
• Intel TDT uses hardware telemetry to detect malware, cryptojacking, polymorphic malware, and ransomware in real-time based on CPU metrics and behavioral detections. When a threat is discovered, TDT will send a signal to the security software built into the platform to alert it to the threat.

Additionally, security firm Cybereason announced that it will integrate its security platform with Intel's TDT to perform hardware-based ransomware detection.

“This partnership with Intel to add CPU-based threat detection builds on our long history and industry-leading capabilities in ransomware detection and elimination,” said Lior Div, CEO and Co-Founder of Cybereason.

According to Cybereason and Intel, this collaboration will be the first time that hardware is used directly for ransomware detection.

“Ransomware was a top security threat in 2020, and software alone is not enough to protect against ongoing threats. The new 11th Gen Core vPro platform delivers hardware-based threat detection for the first time. Together with Cybereason’s multi-layered protection, businesses will have full visibility into CPU telemetry to prevent ransomware attacks ,” said Stephanie Hallford , vice president of the Client Computing Group and general manager of Client Enterprise Platforms at Intel.