AMD Fortifies PC Security With Unique Combination of Hardware and Software Protection

August 9, 2004

Bringing a new level of security to desktop and mobile PC computing, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that with the release of Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP) can now be enabled on all AMD Athlon™ 64 processors. This unique hardware and software combination is designed to keep computers protected against certain malicious viruses, computer worms and Trojan horses. AMD Athlon 64 processor customers can now feel more secure performing computing tasks such as e-mailing, sharing music files, and downloading photos, games, and other graphic-intensive computing applications.

“AMD is taking a leadership role to deliver a more secure computing experience for home and business users with the enablement of Enhanced Virus Protection on all AMD Athlon 64 processors in the market today,” said Marty Seyer, corporate vice president and general manager, Microprocessor Business Unit, AMD’s Computation Products Group. “The sophistication of viruses has raised the need for security prevention at all platform levels. AMD has addressed this need with Enhanced Virus Protection making the AMD Athlon 64 family of processors the only high-performance PC processors available today that offer this enhanced level of security.”

“The combination of Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies and improved hardware technology, as found in Enhanced Virus Protection from AMD, is an important step in providing a multi-layered defense against many common online threats,” said Will Poole, senior vice president, Windows Client Business, Microsoft Corp. “Security is an issue that requires industry-wide collaboration and we are pleased to be working with AMD to deliver a more secure computing experience for our mutual customers.”

Enhanced Virus Protection is a hardware feature designed into AMD Athlon 64 desktop and mobile processors. When combined with the Data Execution Prevention technology found in Windows XP SP2, EVP not only identifies certain malicious code, specifically those that execute buffer overflow attacks, but also prevents them from replicating and spreading throughout the system. By incorporating security technology into the hardware, costs and damages associated with these virus attacks can be significantly reduced while increasing the integrity of the home and corporate network.

“With buffer overflow attacks costing between $385 million and $1.2 billion, it has become absolutely critical that companies mitigate the related exposure,” said Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst for the Enderle Group. “Virus checking products simply cannot respond fast enough to threats that can spread worldwide in minutes when it takes days to develop an effective anti-virus response. The hardware and software technology from AMD and Microsoft is designed to proactively defend computers from these far too prevalent attacks, providing critical protection from some of the fastest-growing and most damaging viruses in the world today.”

Every AMD Athlon 64 FX-53, AMD Athlon 64 mobile and desktop, and Mobile AMD Sempron™ processor customer can now use the built-in EVP capability when enabled by Windows XP SP2. For businesses and enterprises using the AMD Opteron™ processor, EVP will be enabled with the upcoming release of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 for 64-bit Extended Systems.

Source: AMD