Trend Micro partners with Intel for enhanced malware defence

Trend Micro has announced a partnership with Intel aimed at enhancing ransomware and fileless malware detection capabilities by leveraging Intel Threat Detection Technology.

The collaboration focuses on using hardware-based security to improve detection accuracy by differentiating legitimate file backup activities from ransomware encryption. By utilising the power of GPUs, this new solution is designed to offload memory scanning processes from CPUs, which enhances scanning capacity significantly while avoiding any compromise in device performance.

Carla Rodriguez, Intel Vice President, stated, "Threat actors are increasingly targeting endpoints with sophisticated attacks that evade traditional software-based security. Trend Micro's integration of Intel Threat Detection Technology provides a hardware-accelerated detection layer to uncover stealthy threats. This technology, deployed across a billion PCs, is the only AI-based silicon security solution of its kind. Our mutual customers will benefit from enhanced protection with Trend Micro's AI-powered Trend Vision One - Endpoint solutions on Intel AI PCs."

Data from 2023 indicates that fileless malware accounted for a significant portion of cyberattacks, with reports suggesting involvement in 40% of instances. These stealthy threats often evade detection as they can execute in-memory and utilise legitimate system tools.

Mick McCluney, ANZ Field CTO at Trend Micro, commented on the advancements, "Proactive security has long been desired but just recently feasible. Through our work with Intel, we're redefining what's possible in cybersecurity - empowering enterprises to proactively safeguard their systems, data, and operations against an increasingly complex threat landscape."

This development enables Trend endpoint security solutions to perform more extensive and frequent scans, aiming to identify fileless threats before they deploy harmful payloads. Utilising fewer CPU resources allows these security measures to operate without affecting device performance or exhausting batteries.

Trend Micro's strategic integration with Intel is set to increase the efficacy of ransomware detection by 24% through combined CPU telemetry and advanced machine learning techniques. Advanced ransomware now frequently utilises sophisticated techniques such as packing and VM cloaking, making behaviour-based detection approaches insufficient on their own.

The enhanced solution provides deeper insights through the sourcing of Intel TDT code into Trend Micro agents, offering the ability to promptly detect zero-day attacks and rapidly evolving threats.

Trend Micro is focused on helping to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fuelled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's AI-powered cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organisations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints.