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Ultrabook Security - Identity and Asset Protection with Intel

By Wong Chung Wee - on 20 Sep 2012, 6:45pm

Ultrabook Security - Identity and Asset Protection with Intel

The local office of Intel organized a media update this morning to keep us abreast of the company's technology development and innovation, with special attention paid to Ultrabooks powered by its third generation Intel Core processors. Mr. Garry Weil, a Technical Marketing Manager, and Mr. Thaine Creitz, an Intel Platform Lab Manager, took the stage and introduced Intel's technology innovations with the advent of their third generation Intel Core processors.

Mr. Garry Weil is shown holding an Intel Ultrabook of reference design.

They touched on the point of Ultrabook security and highlighted Intel's Identity Protection and Anti-Theft Technologies. Both technologies comprise hardware and software implementations. The hardware security features are already hardwired onto the Intel Ultrabook's platform at its chipset level. Intel has recently announced Symantec as a software partner to implement the software aspects of one of its Ultrabook security technologies.

(Source: Intel)

For Intel's Identity Protection, Intel has chosen Symantec to integrate its VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) credential into the Intel Identity Protection Technology (IPT) platform. Websites that support Symantec's two factor authentication technology will have the added advantage of leveraging on the hardware security aspect that is built into the chipset of the Intel Ultrabook. It can prevent unauthorized access to these websites even though the user's password has been compromised as the Ultrabook's hardware security system will act as a second layer of protection.

The Intel Ultrabooks from different manufacturers on display at the media update.

In terms of protecting the Intel Ultrabook as a piece of asset, Intel offers its Anti-Theft technology that features a handful of software implementer. One of the company's highlighted during the presentation was none other than the Intel-owned McAfee, with their Anti-Theft system. This system works on a subscription service, whereby the McAfee client software communicates on a regular basis with the backend McAfee servers. Users of McAfee Anti-Theft are able to locate and track their Intel Ultrabooks in the event when they have been stolen or misplaced. Based on this subscription service mode of communication, the McAfee Anti-Theft software will automatically lock down an Intel Ultrabook if there is a loss of communication between the client software and its backend servers after a stipulated period.

Mr. Weil was quick to add that this feature can be turned off by the user to prevent any 'miscommunication' so that the Ultrabook will not be locked down. In the event of tracking down a missing Ultrabook, the McAfee Anti-Theft system is able to perform IP tracking to locate it as long as it is connected to the Internet; however, this system is not foolproof as IP tracking doesn't have the accuracy of GPS tracking. He conceded that this system may be beaten by IP spoofing, making it very difficult to pinpoint the location of the missing Ultrabook. For more information on Intel's protection technologies, please visit the links highlighted below.

(Source: Intel, Symantec, McAfee)

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