Symantec and Intel collaborate on security
Symantec and Intel have worked together to embed two-factor authentication technology into the hardware of second generation Intel Core and Core VPro processors.
The work will integrate Symantec's VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) cloud-based security product with Intel's Identity Protection Technology (IPT), the security company announced on Wednesday.
"By synchronizing VIP with the Intel chipset, we have created the first ever strong authentication credential that you will never see but will always have in your PC," Atri Chatterjee, vice president of User Authentication at Symantec, said in a statement. "The combination of our proven VIP service with Intel IPT provides users with a new level of 'built-in' strong authentication."
VIP is a cloud-based authentication service that requires a user to generate a six digit one-time password (OTP) upon each login of a VIP-supported service. ITP allows security vendors to store the algorithms used to generate their OTPs inside part of the chipset, called the Manageability Engine.
Symantec believes the embedding of VIP into the Intel chipset will mean strong authentication within the enterprise "has now become faster, cheaper and easier to manage," Symantec said in a statement.
Security company Vasco also announced on Wednesday plans to integrate its Digipass technology with IPT. IPT will support a Vasco applet on the chip. When a user attempts to log-on to a website using Digipass the Vasco applet will send the generated OTP for evaluation by the server, which in turn wiill request validation of the OTP by Vasco's back-end authentication software.
On 26 January the purchase of security company McAfee by Intel was given EU regulatory approval. Gartner research vice president Leslie Fiering told ZDNet UK that the purchase was intended to spur security vendors into capitalising on Intel's hardware-based security technology.
"The point of McAfee is to get a partner that is committed to exploiting these hardware features and using the APIs to access those features in the software," she said.