Intel Will Allow Antivirus Software To Use GPUs For Malware Scanning

2018 did not kick off particularly well for Intel due to the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that were discovered inside of its chips. Intel has since worked hard to patch existing chips and also promised that future chips should be free from the vulnerabilities. However it seems that isn’t all as Intel has announced several new initiatives.

One of those initiatives comes in the form of Accelerated Memory Scanning. This is where Intel will allow antivirus software to take advantage of its integrated GPUs to help boost the scanning process. “With Accelerated Memory Scanning, the scanning is handled by Intel’s integrated graphics processor, enabling more scanning, while reducing the impact on performance and power consumption.”

Intel claims that based on their testing, CPU utilization has dropped from 20% to as low as 2% by using this new feature. The next initiative is dubbed Intel Threat Detection Technology which according to Intel, “combines platform telemetry with machine learning algorithms to improve the detection of advanced threats, while reducing false positives and minimizing performance impact.”

Intel seems to be focusing a bit of how these features won’t impact CPU performance too much (or at all). This might be due to reports which suggested that the fix for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities could affect performance.Hopefully these changes will help make Intel’s chips more secure in the future and prevent similar vulnerabilities, but only time will tell if these changes will be effective enough.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Intel, Malware, Security