Kaspersky has just been granted a patent for a hardware-based anti-virus, something which could potentially revolutionize the way anti-virus software works. The hardware-based anti-virus will be able to work independently or in combination with any software on the computer or machine.
The patented device by Kaspersky will connect inside of the computer or machine between the hard drive (HDD or SSD) and the computing unit, between the CPU and RAM. The device is also connected on the system bus or integrated into the disk controller.
The hardware-based anti-virus will effectively allow or block any writing to the hard disk, preventing viruses from starting in the first place. Users will be alerted of the potential risk, preventing or denying the infection from being written to disk.
The patent shows that the device will be self-supported with an ARM processor and RAM, so it will not take away from the machines performance. The device will also have its own database for malicious code and faulty records during definition updates.
Kaspersky did mention this could be sold and used on a consumer based market, but will help prevent miscellaneous code from spreading in servers and specialized machines initially, such as ATMs.
Thanks to Trey for the news tip!