Intel to Malware: “You Shall not Pass!”

You may have heard that Intel bought McAfee a few weeks ago. Well that decision had a lot of people scratching their heads. Personally, I thought the CEO said ‘I got a virus, we should buy a copy of McAfee’ and an intern misheard him and bought the entire company instead. Intel decided to have a big press conference and try to explain themselves. Their answer isn’t as funny and kind of leaves us scratching our heads more. I don’t have lice, I swear!

Here’s the explanation:

Traditionally, security companies such as McAfee would take a defensive stance on things. For example, a new virus is made (lets call it Britney’sBoobs6) and sent out to 100 computers, someone notices the virus and informs McAfee. McAfee then figures out a way to remove the virus and sends the solution to every computer that has McAfee installed. The problem with this method is that the first 100 (or in reality 100,000) computers will get infected and the user will not know a thing nore have a way of solving the issue.

Intel wants to be more proactive. Instead of being defensive they will make it so your computer can only use programs approved by them. This will stop all malware in it’s tracks, but it also means they will be able to charge every software maker on earth a fee to become a ‘trusted’ source.

This is similar to the way the Apple store is run. You have to pass a final review and pay to be listed and usable, but a lot of people are very nervous about a chip maker calling the shots in this arena.