Fighting Malware with Hardware

In 1981, a bored teenager on Christmas vacation from Mt. Lebanon High School in Pennsylvania wrote the first known microcomputer virus which was aimed at a vulnerability the then popular Apple II computer.

That virus, Elk Cloner, was relatively harmless since the extent of its malevolence was to post a mocking poem on the screen the 50th time the Apple II was booted after infection. In fact, even Elk Cloner's author, Rich Skrenta, turned out to be a pretty nice guy who help to found the Open Directory Project, Topix LLC, and now Blekko, which is an innovative new search engine.

Unfortunately, not all viruses are as harmless as Elk Cloner and an entire evil industry has emerged and is seeking to steal and cheat consumers.

For example, some published estimates indicate that 34 percent of all of the malware (viruses, adware, etc.) ever written were composed in the past year.

A hardware solution for malware

Recently, Intel's chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, has been hinting to the media that Intel has developed or is developing a new hardware solution for malware.

“I think we have some real breakthrough ideas about changing the game in terms of malware,” Rattner told Computerworld magazine. “We're going to see a quantum jump in the ability of future devices, be them PCs or phones or tablets or smart TVs, to defend themselves against attacks.”

Even more interesting is the assertion that Intel's malware deterrent won't rely on so-called signatures. For example, most — if not all — current malware blockers or removers are effective on viruses or vulnerabilities after they have been discovered and analyzed. The anti-virus solutions looks through memory searching for things that match those signatures.

But the Intel solution is said to use other means to combat malware, even, according to Rattner, defending against attacks not yet conceived — which go by the moniker of “Zero Day” attacks.

This sort of virus protection could present a real competitive advantage for consumer products. Imagine if your next consumer design, whatever it might be, was actually immune to malware attacks. That would certainly be a feature worth building in.

Some skepticism required

Until Intel actually demonstrates this new technology, it is certainly okay to mix enthusiasm over a hardware solution for the malware with skepticism about whether it can really be done.

For example, Paul Dicklin, Head of Technology — Asia Pacific, for Sophos, stated in a blog post that if Intel can stop Zero Day malware attacks, pigs can fly.

Dicklin even pointed out that Intel's own 80286 processor, which was released shortly after Elk Cloner, sought to protect computers from attack.

Armando Roggio