Embracing AI to protect data from evolving cyber threats

The evolution of artificial intelligence continues to help businesses unlock data to work faster, make better decisions, elevate customer service, and more. But with smarter technology, the need for smarter security solutions becomes even greater – and Intel has committed to leveraging AI to enable comprehensive defenses against cybercrime. Intel’s innovative security capabilities and robust processes to find and address vulnerabilities are designed to help you meet today’s security challenges, from data center to desktop.

Confidential computing

Protecting your systems and data has never been more critical, especially when working with sensitive, confidential, or regulated data. While encryption of data that’s either in transit or at rest has become common security practice, Intel is collaborating with innovators to develop solutions to protect against the next big target: data in use.

For example, Ant Group sought to better secure the sensitive data of its clients in financial services by migrating its virtual machines to confidential computing. Ant Group now leverages Alibaba cloud instances with Intel? Trust Domain Extensions (Intel? TDX), powered by Intel? Xeon? processors, to integrate confidential AI into its financial SaaS soluCloud Elastic Compute Service. These extensions are designed to protect data in use with isolation, encryption, and verification, helping enable collaboration, insights, and innovation with less risk. This collaboration is designed for the security and peace of mind Ant Group requires, demonstrating how Intel solutions help move financial services and other industries forward.

Post-quantum cryptography

But there’s no time to let down our guard, as most key exchange methods used to secure data in networks today leverage mechanisms that can be broken by quantum computers. Even before quantum computers become widely available, it’s possible for attackers to store data today to decrypt later. This represents another serious cyber threat?that puts important data like confidential government information, personal health records, genomics, and financial records at risk.

Arqit, an Intel? Network Builders community member, offers its Symmetric Key Agreement ? Platform (SKA), a cloud-hosted or on-prem service that can secure networks with encryption that is unbreakable, even by a quantum computer. The combination of the SKA Platform with strongSwan’s user-friendly interface, powered by Intel? Xeon? scalable processors, has emerged as an excellent quantum-safe VPN solution that combines ease-of-use with high-performance networking capabilities and lightweight software requirements. In fact, it was recently named Cyber Defense Product of the Year 2024 at the National Cyber Awards.

Security tools

In addition, Intel continues to invest in the development of tools that not only unlock the full potential of AI with PCs, but also offer the level of security necessary to create peace of mind for organizations. Offering easy-to-deploy security solutions without the complex plug-ins, uploads, or additional steps remains a top priority.

For example, Seven Bank, Ltd. – a leader in ATM platforms, the settlement and account business, and overseas transaction services – opted to replace all devices in its client environment with Dell Latitude laptops with the Intel vPro? platform. With built-in tools like Intel? Hardware Shield and Intel? Threat Detection Technology (Intel? TDT), Intel vPro? provides multi-layer security across entire fleets of laptops, helping prevent malicious attacks from the outside.

Likewise, our Intel? Core? Ultra platform features out-of-the-box security with AI-powered protections that can help detect threats at the hardware level. In fact, Intel? Core? Ultra processors now feature a built-in Neural Processing Unit, specifically designed to accelerate AI tasks and push the boundaries of comprehensive IT security.

Best practices for baseline cybersecurity

While the examples detailed above represent the growing number of solutions powered by Intel, the following is a list of best-practice recommendations intended to help your organization establish baseline cybersecurity defenses:

• Secure the hardware layer: Use hardware-based security solutions such as Intel? Hardware Shield, which protects systems below the operating system, such as firmware and BIOS.
• Zero Trust architecture: Implement a Zero Trust model, which involves continuous monitoring, verification of user identities, and segmenting networks to limit access. Such security capabilities are built into Intel? silicon and ready to be enabled in software.
• AI-powered threat detection: AI-driven cybersecurity can detect anomalies and emerging threats in real time. For example, Intel? TDT utilizes machine learning to monitor processor activity for malicious behavior.
• Regular firmware and software updates: Automate system updates and patches across your organization to help protect your system from new and evolving vulnerabilities. Intel’s regular platform update cycle works to keep systems secure longer into their lifespan.

With every new advancement and transformation in our digital world, the importance of robust cybersecurity solutions increases. Our proven solutions are designed to deliver confidence by securing your organization and its most precious data. Security Starts with Intel.