Following its acquisition last year by US computer chip maker Intel, data security firm McAfee is confident that it has the resources and expertise to meet the challenges of an ever-evolving cyberspace landscape, a senior executive said.
Hamed Diab, regional director for
McAfee’s operations in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), said
Intel’s
$7.68-billion (Dh28bn) acquisition of the security vendor and their plan to produce security technology for multiple platforms will benefit both enterprise and consumer users.
“[The Intel-McAfee venture] will revolutionise the security world from multiple platforms both from the consumer and the enterprise perspectives, in particular as we develop better ways of handling security threats. This will also [influence] the future of RAM [random access memory] and mobility,” he said.
McAfee’s goal proves to be timely considering the increased cyber threats lurking on the internet. According to Diab, in the first quarter of 2011 alone McAfee has been made aware of about 60,000 new malwares infecting users on a daily basis globally.
“Each malware can be sophisticated in its attack just like the Stuxnet worm and Aurora, which affected a lot of companies worldwide,” Diab said. Both
Stuxnet and Aurora have been blamed for attacks on international companies such as Google, Siemens and Adobe last year.
Diab said McAfee is likewise focused on securing the mobile space, a segment that has become extremely significant in recent years as demand for mobile technology gathered steam.
“Mobile technology as a sector is growing worldwide. By 2020, mobile penetration is expected to reach 10 billion users, that’s double the size of today’s world population. With that comes the security issue. How can you secure such a huge database or [trove] of products and innovations?,” he said.
Diab said aside from their own expertise, McAfee has acquired companies that will help them address the demand for unique mobile solutions for all consumer segments. Among these solutions include the ability for users to secure and manage their data remotely through the cloud in the event of their mobile device being lost or stolen. Users can also locate their device through wireless location technology or GPS (global positioning system) embedded in McAfee products.
“These solutions basically have full logistics and features in order [for users] to secure [their] devices and give [them] business continuity at all times,” the McAfee executive said.
Deeper security means safer data
As part of their new venture, Intel and McAfee launched
DeepSAFE technology, which they claim is the first hardware-assisted security that will eliminate sub-operating system threats.
Diab said the technology, which debuted at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, California last month, has been made available for corporate and individual consumers in the Mena region.
According to McAfee’s website, the DeepSAFE technology uses hardware features that are already in the Intel processors to provide security beyond the operating system (OS). The technology enables innovative protection technologies including proactively detecting and preventing stealthy advanced persistent threats (APT) and malware, which are often cunning enough to evade discovery by embedding themselves deep in the OS.
Simply put, DeepSAFE combines the power of hardware and flexibility of software to create sophisticated ways of fending off data security threats.
Diab said through DeepSAFE technology, users can have the confidence to access their data even from remote sites. McAfee will use DeepSAFE as a forerunner for future solutions that provide deeper level of security.
On securing the cloud
McAfee’s Diab said their company has also been active in delivering security solutions for cloud computing, a fast growing segment in the Middle East’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
“We see cloud as a turning point for the future. Everybody will [soon] look at things in a real time. Some customers who are not willing to invest in building their own infrastructure will [eventually embrace] the technology by capitalising on the cloud services offered by vendors like us,” he said.
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