As Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) took the wraps off McAfee's DeepSAFE hardware-based security technology at the Intel Developer Forum this week, it was clear that engineers from both companies have been hard at work since Intel entered into an agreement to acquire McAfee for $7.68 billion in cash last year, catching industry observers by surprise.

Speaking at the IDF keynote, CEO Paul Otellini demonstrated how DeepSAFE can be used to thwart a zero-day rootkit called Agony in real-time. Essentially, McAfee Endpoint Protection software hooks onto the microprocessor's hardware-based security features to provide a "deeper" security footprint.

Moving beyond the operating system means that DeepSAFE is able to expose many attacks currently undetectable via OS-level APIs, such as novel kernel-mode rootkit malware.

DeepSAFE is currently designed to work with Windows 7, though McAfee anticipates that it will work with Windows 8 upon its release next year. According to the DeepSAFE FAQ (.pdf), DeepSAFE currently makes use of Intel VTx technology found in the Intel vPro and Core i3/i5/i7 processors.

This means that other security vendors can conceivably leverage DeepSAFE technology for their own products.

McAfee says it will likely sell DeepSAFE as an add-on feature to its enterprise-centric Endpoint Protection service for rootkit detection; Intel has earlier said that the technology will ship this year. There is no timeline for the availability of DeepSAFE in consumer products however.

For more:
- check out this article at eWeek
- check out this article at Windows IT Pro

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