Did you know that a cyberattack every 39 seconds? It is no wonder since the payoff for a single successful breach can be enormous for threat actors. Even as the threat landscape evolves rapidly, one thing is certain; attackers will continue to aggressively hunt for vulnerabilities to exploit.
In addition to the growing concern around social engineering and identity-based threats, recent studies show a growing trend of attacks on the PC. File-less malware, which targets memory on the PC, now comprises 75% of attacks. On the home front, South Africa was ranked number one in Africa for ransomware and infostealer attacks in the second half of 2024.
AI has arrived on devices, expanding innovation as well as the attack surface. With hundreds of models and AI features now in the mix, sensitive data is at risk of exposure to applications like GenAI. Given the challenges, it begs a question: What does effective endpoint security look like today, and how can you build a hardware-optimised approach to improve overall security strategy?
PCs developed with the adversary in mind
No organisation can block every cyberattack. Instead, combine a proactive defence strategy with the ability to respond rapidly when a breach occurs. To do this, you must overcome one major obstacle: the unknown. Unknown vulnerabilities, unknown access points, unknown intruders. Truly secure technology today must be designed to detect and address unusual activity as it happens, wherever it happens, right down to the BIOS and silicon levels.
Secure commercial AI PCs are designed with the adversary in mind, offering advanced security features that assume attacks are inevitable and layering defences accordingly:
• Device-level ‘below-the-OS’ security. Rigorous controls and assurance, such as Dell Secured Component Verification, protect organisations from the growing risk of supply chain attacks. BIOS tamper detections, collectively termed Dell SafeBIOS, alert on suspicious activities, helping ensure foundational, device-level security while the device is in use. To bolster this at the silicon level, Dell activates additional Intel hardware root of trust, memory encryption, and virtualisation-based security configurations used by Windows 11.
• Security software ecosystem integrations. Dell PC telemetry enables integration with leading third-party software. Reimagine endpoint security with ‘hardware-assisted security’ where below-the-OS insights from Dell and Intel enrich threat hunting in platforms like CrowdStrike Falcon – without the complex, resource-intensive integration work falling on IT and SecOps. Above the OS, Intel Threat Detection Technology (Intel TDT) helps security ISVs like CrowdStrike scan for file-less attacks in memory with up to 7-11 times performance offload to the Intel Integrated GPU. Intel and Dell are also actively enabling security ISVs to deploy new AI security workloads that run locally on AI PCs, thereby increasing user data privacy. CrowdStrike has documented the performance and applicability of AI run on the neural processing unit (NPU) to streamline many detection use cases not possible with cloud-run AI alone. Other ISVs have released AI PC solutions for deepfake detection, anti-phishing, data loss prevention, and secure file transfer.
• Manageability. A secure fleet is a well-managed fleet. That is why Dell builds PCs with both security and manageability in mind. It offers manageable commercial AI PCs, including a full suite of solutions that help IT admins simplify and streamline endpoint management. This includes remediation with Intel vPro, such as managing out-of-band systems, offline PCs, or devices with an inaccessible operating system.
New research from Centre for Informed Defence proves that your choice of PC hardware plays a critical role in enabling security software and OS features to protect your assets effectively.
Secure Your Fleet for the Future
Inevitable security exposures on outdated PCs. A growing attack surface as we explore the AI frontier. Emerging technologies on the dark web. These factors create a perfect environment for adversaries to breach networks at speed and scale.
With Dell and Intel as IT and security partners, customers invest in technologies that:
• Reduce the attack surface.
• Improve threat detection and response.
• Enable recovery and remediation to get back to business as usual.
Because Dell and Intel deeply understand customer pain points around security, organisations not only gain access to advanced endpoint protections, they also benefit from streamlined procurement and intelligent integrations to alleviate operational burdens.
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