On August 19, anti-virus and security vendor McAfee announced it was in the process of being purchased by Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), in a deal valued at approximately $7.68 billion.

According to a statement, McAfee will function at a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel, reporting to it's Software and Services Group. The chip maker will likely leverage McAfee in order to make hardware that is less vulnerable to attack. "We believe security will be most effective when enabled in hardware," said Intel CEO Paul Otellini, in a conference call, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Beyond the application to chips, Intel's servers, cloud networks and budding mobile strategy could also benefit from enhanced security.

"In the past, energy-efficient performance and connectivity have defined computing requirements. Looking forward, security will join those as a third pillar of what people demand from all computing experiences," said Otellini in a statement.

"We believe this acquisition will result in our ability to deliver a safer, more secure and trusted Internet-enabled device experience," said Dave DeWalt, president and CEO of McAfee, in a release.

Fore more:
- see the press release
- read this Wall Street Journal article

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