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Intel completes McAfee acquisition for $7.68 billion

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On March 1, 2011, 9:00 AM

intel, mcaf
Intel has announced its $7.68 billion purchase of security vendor McAfee is now complete, marking the largest business acquisition in the company's history and a landmark merger between the world's largest CPU manufacturer and the second largest computer security vendor. Under the terms of the agreement, McAfee will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel and continue developing and selling security products and services under its own brand.

Intel has previously said that the acquisition will increase the integration of security at the silicon level, and that the first products leveraging the duo's partnership will hit the market later this year to tackle "security and the pervasive nature of computing threats in an entirely new way." No specifics have been shared yet but Intel mentioned its technology won't rely on signature-based malware detection and that it will be a game-changer able to stop all zero-day attacks.

We don't think the chip giant would be making such bold claims if it wasn't indeed ready to unveil something big. Whatever they have in store it will likely involve baking security into low-power mobile hardware as well, with Intel actively looking to become more competitive in smartphones and other portable devices.

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3 comments

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  1. March 1, 2011 9:49 AM
    Jibberish18 said:

    Hmmm. I know Intel wouldn't exaggerate something like this. I wonder if it will download the virus signatures before the OS ever starts, into someplace secure like the BIOS? <---If this is crazy talk, don't mind me. The reason I mention the OS never starting is because if the OS does start, the virus can block you from downloading signatures. Then again, I'm thinking that this will be a pretty advanced implementation of a virus scan and virus makers will have to up their game.

    Reply
  2. March 1, 2011 2:08 PM
    Nima304 said:

    Jibberish18 said:

    Hmmm. I know Intel wouldn't exaggerate something like this. I wonder if it will download the virus signatures before the OS ever starts, into someplace secure like the BIOS? <---If this is crazy talk, don't mind me. The reason I mention the OS never starting is because if the OS does start, the virus can block you from downloading signatures. Then again, I'm thinking that this will be a pretty advanced implementation of a virus scan and virus makers will have to up their game.

    Hopefully not the BIOS, I'd hope they only support UEFI if it does indeed stop viruses at that level.

    Reply
  3. April 9, 2011 11:47 AM
    T77
    T77 said:

    it sounds like a good strategy,integrating the security software at the hardware level.well the going is going to get tough for the virus makers out there.....

    Reply

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