[IP] back to the future
AMD, Intel put antivirus tech into chips
http://ct.com.com/click?q=e5-9Z7OQgyVlM35gtKRKG4smhXctbuR
AMD, Intel put antivirus tech into chips
By <mailto:michael.kanellos@xxxxxxxx>Michael Kanellos
CNET News.com
January 8, 2004, 3:22 PM PT
URL: <http://zdnet.com.com/
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5137832.html>http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5137832.html
LAS VEGAS--Advanced Micro Devices and Intel plan to soon release technology
that will allow processors to stop many attacks before they occur.
Execution Protection by AMD, technology contained in AMD's Athlon 64 chips,
prevents a buffer overflow, a common method used to attack computers. A
buffer overflow essentially overwhelms a computer's defense systems and
then inserts a malicious program in memory that the processor subsequently
executes.
With Execution Protection, data in the buffer can only be read and,
therefore, is prevented from doing its dirty work, John Morris, director of
marketing at AMD, said in an interview Thursday at the Consumer Electronics
Show here.
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"Now in current processors, any programs that go into the memory overflow
can be executed," he said. "With this, the system only allows read-only in
the buffer. It will not execute." The malicious program is then disposed
harmlessly when the PC is turned off, he said.
The circuitry is already inside existing Athlon 64 chips, but it can't be
activated yet. That will occur when Microsoft releases
<http://zdnet.com.com//2100-1104-5128984.html?tag=nl>Service Pack 2 for
Windows XP early in the second quarter. By then, AMD also will have a
catchy marketing name for the technology, Morris said.
Intel is putting a similar technology in Prescott, an enhanced version of
the Pentium 4 expected next month, according to computer manufacturers.
Intel declined to comment.
Security problems, of course, have become a multibillion-dollar problem and
show few signs of abating. These sorts of technologies could undercut one
of the more severe headaches out there, Morris said.
A number of damaging worms from last year relied on buffer overflows.
Around 50 percent of the Windows security updates from Microsoft in the
last two years may have been rendered unnecessary if the technology existed
then, according to an analysis by AMD and Microsoft.
Morris said the first full-fledged 64-bit programs for the Athlon 64 will
appear this quarter. Ubisoft is slated to release a 64-bit version of "Far
Cry" in March, while Epic Games will release a 64-bit version of "Unreal
Tournament" in the first quarter.
By going to 64 bits, these games will be far more realistic, because more
complex graphics will be possible. "Now you will be able to blow a hole in
the ground and use it as a fox hole," Morris said.
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