Windows XP Service Pack 2, finally released last Friday, is designed to address many of the security failings of the Microsoft operating system. The advent of SP2 means Windows users can use the Enhanced Virus Protection feature in the Athlon 64 range of chips.
This is hardware level security that can shut off buffer overrun attacks, such as MS Blaster. It already works with Linux operating systems. The vendor recommends users still use an anti-virus package to ensure protection against the full range of viruses.
While Intel has committed to building more platform level security features into its chips, these have yet to come to fruition.
Kurt Holman, marketing manager at AMD’s desktop product marketing group, said the platform had been designed from the beginning to accommodate anti virus protection. He said he couldn’t comment on what other technology the company may activate within hardware to increase security.
However, he stated that the company would continue to look at ways to make PC platforms more secure. We’ll keep looking at this, he said.
