An Intel study finds that businesses are eager for cybersecurity and are keen to see how security can be baked into devices.
Hardware-assisted security (HAS) uses hardware extensions and components to support the security of higher-level machine layers, from the BIOS up through desktop applications.
As a practice, HAS can speed up security-related processing, protects memory bounds, secures random number generation, isolates app execution and enables trusted computing through hardware components like trusted platform modules (TPMs).
Intel says security approaches like this are increasingly relevant as threats emerge faster and more of the world’s businesses and information migrates from the physical to the digital.
The study found that 64 percent of the 1,406 IT leaders Intel surveyed were more likely to purchase security solutions from vendors they consider to be “leading edge,” which is unsurprising given another finding: 71 percent said technology providers “need to be able to adapt to the changing threat landscape. That means offering elements of HAS like TPMs and an open ecosystem, two-thirds of respondents said.
It’s all for naught if you don’t have visibility
The point Intel drives home is that all the security solutions in the world are useless without network visibility. Without knowing which systems are where, and what they do, they can remain hidden on networks while hosting critical vulnerabilities.
“Fewer than half of organizations (48 percent) have visibility into newly-disclosed vulnerabilities and patches/updates, and mainly prioritize security updates for the latest product generation (42 percent of respondents) when there are still many legacy devices in use around the world,” Intel said.
Hardware and firmware security solutions make it easier to manage vulnerabilities, said 69 percent of respondents. Of those, 58 percent said they had “good or significant visibility into whether their hardware and firmware are operating in a known good state.”
For those respondents, 48 percent said their security teams spend an average of 17 hours per week mapping known IoT device vulnerabilities.
So, what are organizations leading in hardware-assisted security doing differently?
Intel’s findings suggest it’s all about how the mindset behind HAS forces organizations changes. Of those who said they’re using hardware-assisted security, 85 percent said it was a top priority, and 64 percent said their organisations are taking steps to advance hardware-level security.
A third automate their BIOS and firmware updates, and quite a few have also integrated zero trust strategies with hardware-assisted security solutions. ®