Intel vPro Security Drives New AI PC Innovations with the Security Ecosystem

By Todd Cramer, Sr. Director Security Ecosystem Business Development, Intel

AI for security, security for AI, AI detection and response, prompt injection detection, agentic SOC - the adoption of AI is driving a rapid cybersecurity innovation cycle in security software solutions.  Silicon security evolves at a different pace, but it unleashes foundational capabilities to fuel this ecosystem transformation. Intel’s commercial launch of the new Intel vPro® Security solutions delivers a spectrum of new AI capabilities. These result in the world’s most secure business PC for today’s threats1. I’ll share insights into some of the cutting edge features & partner designs for Intel® Core ™ Ultra Series 3 platforms.

Intel TDT-DTECT- Silicon AI Delivers a Cybersecurity Break-through

Over the past 8 years, Intel® Threat Detection Technology (Intel® TDT) has been incorporated into the majority of leading AV/EDR solutions for its unique ability to deliver a detection assist for Ransomware, Cryptojacking, and File-less Malware.  Today’s adversaries are increasingly leveraging AI‑accelerated attacks that can dynamically generate new variants in real time, challenging traditional detection approaches. AI enabled adversaries increased by 89%1 last year and defenses are not prepared for the coming wave.

Intel® TDT- DTECT (Deep-learning and Trace based Execution Context Tracker) applies Intel deep learning AI to real-time processor execution tracing, available uniquely on Intel CPUs, to understand what code is actually doing on a system, instruction by instruction, thereby exposing adversary tactics. The result is earlier detection in the attack chain, immunity from evasion techniques, and dramatically reduced false positives.

This unique Intel AI model, trained to understand x86 machine code runs locally on the AI PC and offloads to the GPU/NPU, without disrupting the user experience or causing privacy issues by sending a round-trip of sensitive data to the cloud.

Intel engaged five design partners that are in active evaluation: CrowdStrike, ESET, Sentinel One, Symantec by Broadcom, and Trend Micro. The SDK is now available for broad ecosystem enabling. First commercial releases are expected starting 2H of 26 starting with ESET – read more in their press release. This is a compelling use of AI for good that leverages the Intel PC hardware you own to combat the toughest threats.

Intel® TSE- New Inline Encryption Engine- Intel® Total Storage Encryption (TSE), was envisioned as a platform-level rethink of how storage encryption should work. Rather than treating encryption as a software tax paid by the CPU, TSE moves the entire operation into a dedicated, inline hardware engine on the SoC—protecting encryption keys from exposure in memory, reducing attack surface, and delivering near-native storage performance at dramatically lower power cost.  

This delivers a major security impact for every enterprise that uses BitLocker encryption today. It reduces Windows BitLocker CPU encryption cycles by roughly 75%3, bringing it close to a “no encryption” baseline. Intel designed this capability with AES 256 key support so it is post-quantum cryptography ready. Best of all, this feature is enabled “out of the box” by Microsoft when BitLocker is run on Intel Core Ultra Series 3 Intel vPro PCs. An exclusive SOC capability that is only possible on Intel!

Intel AI PCs- Re-architecting Endpoint Security with the Security Ecosystem

AI PCs introduce significant new edge computing capabilities. This enables AI security workloads to run across CPU, GPU, and NPU accelerators. This shift creates a new security control plane with local AI security capabilities. These capabilities can access the full set of device security telemetry, which may be impractical to relay to the cloud.  Intel operates the world's largest PC security ecosystem-enabling program4 with software tools, developer kits, and certification programs that result in materially better security on Intel. Key highlights:

• 48 AI PC ISV security capabilities- co-engineered using native Intel OpenVino™AI frameworks for best AI performance on Intel PCs. Intel continues to play a leading role in extending support for other frameworks like WinML, ONNX, WebGPU, & others.

• CrowdStrike Collaboration Expansion- CrowdStrike announced an expansion of its strategic collaboration with Intel, to optimize the CrowdStrike Falcon® platform for Intel-powered AI PCs, enabling organizations to detect threats faster and safeguard sensitive data as AI workloads move directly onto the endpoint. Read more in their press release.

• AI for Zero Trust Enforcement- Browsers have emerged as a critical security enforcement point to control users interactions with SaaS and corporate data outside the firewall. LayerX has released LLM-powered anti-phishing, prompt injection, and data loss protections for AI PCs. Intel’s leading WebGPU frameworks drove up to 2X faster response times on Intel® Core™ Ultra X7 358H vs AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 w/ Radeon 880M.5 Read more on their blog.

• Silicon Innovations for Agentic Security- Closing the OpenClaw Backdoor- OpenClaw is the first viral example of highly privileged agents with powerful reasoning models, an ability to invoke external APIs, and autonomous execution of business tasks. This agentic backdoor introduces numerous vulnerabilities, data loss/privacy concerns, and root permission issues.

Intel views the AI PC as the new security control plane that is well positioned to better secure this new breed of agentic tools. First, Intel is optimizing OpenClaw to run more efficiently on our NPUs. Second, Intel has delivered a hybrid approach to AI with Intel AI® Super Builder. OpenClaw can be controlled to run agentic flows with sensitive data locally where privacy is protected while public information can use cloud only models. (See blog) Finally, our silicon security like Intel® VT-x and Intel® VT-d can be used to run OpenClaw in a separate isolated virtualized environment, helping contain risky agent activity away from the main OS, credentials, and sensitive enterprise data.

Commercial Grade Capabilities & Security Services for SecOps

Intel enables enterprise customers in high security verticals to derive additional value from Intel vPro Security after deployment.

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  Power and Performance- Security agents are top IT workloads that are well known for disrupting the user experience. Intel has announced new test tools & benchmarks that prove solutions have implemented Intel CPU optimizations for best performance on Intel. CrowdStrike, ESET, HP Wolf, Microsoft Defender, and Sentinel One are first to gain certifications.

• Intel® Assured Supply Chain offers unparalleled security and transparency assurance in the silicon manufacturing process. It creates a dedicated silicon manufacturing pathway in countries with highly secure and verifiable supply chains and provides a digital attestation for end customers. See video.

• Secure Device Provisioning- Dell is the first OEM to utilize Intel’s Trusted Endpoint Provisioning (TEP). This is the technology which enables “Intel vPro Provisioning for Dell Devices” accessible through Dell Device Management Console (DDMC). TEP is a secure, zero touch method for provisioning sensitive vPro platform features using cryptographic trust (ownership vouchers and certificates) to establish device ownership and enable manageability at scale.

• Real-time PC fleet Hardware Security Visibility- Last year, we worked through MITRE, Microsoft, and CrowdStrike to create the industry’s first PC MITRE ATT&CK Mappings for Intel vPro hardware security features. Now, Intel is enabling the security ecosystem to operationalize this important security controls assessment capability. Prelude is the first solution that can query generations of Intel PCs to show where key features provide mitigations against real-world attack tactics. Silicon security is no longer in the shadows; it should be managed as a significant security control.

• Silicon Protections for the Post Quantum Era- Two thirds of organizations see Harvest Now, Decrypt Later attacks as top cyberthreat1.  Adversaries are exfiltrating data today with the intent to decipher later when quantum computing becomes a reality. Intel is the 1st silicon CPU vendor to turn CSNA 2.0 post quantum crypto standards into deployable hardware-rooted crypto solutions for client PCs.6  

This is a journey - cryptography & encryption are used extensively across silicon, OEM firmware, and OS software used on a PC. Intel will continue to assume the leadership role with our PC ecosystem partners to drive out protections. We are also working to innovate software ecosystem solutions that help our customers verify compliance across Intel PC generations- see Keyfactor guest Intel blog.

• Extended Security Servicing - Intel is now offering up to ten years of baseline PC servicing for Intel Core Ultra Series 3 with Intel vPro platforms.7    

Intel vPro Security- The leader in silicon security innovation

For the past 20+ years, Intel has continued to lead the industry with security innovation, capabilities, scale ecosystem-enabling programs, and security services. With over 500 million deployments, Intel is considered the gold standard for commercial grade security. I recommend you read our new Intel Product Security Report that goes deeper on our #1 rated product security assurance programs, leadership in confidential AI, and head-to-head feature comparisons to AMD- all backed by independent assessments and measurable vulnerability data. 

1. 2026 CrowdStrike Global Threat Report
2. As of March 2026, among Windows based PCs, Intel delivers the only silicon enabled, AI based threat detection capability designed for real time detection. This capability uses CPU telemetry to fingerprint malware at x86 machine code level and an AI model that security software can use to identify threats in real time.  Requires security software ISV enablement.  See https://intel.com/vpro for details.  No product or component can be absolutely secure. 
3. Dec 2025 Microsoft Blog-  Announcing Hardware accelerated Bitlocker
4. As of March 2026, based on Intel’s PC Security Enabling Program’s unmatched technical resources, tools, and support for commercial PC security solution providers.  Visit https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ai-pc/showcase.html for details. 
5. Up to 2x faster performance with Layer X across 3 different performance tests on Intel® Core™ Ultra X7 358H vs AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 w/ Radeon 880M. As measured by Layer X prompt workloads using Chrome browser. See www.intel.com/PerformanceIndex  for workloads and configurations. Results may vary.
6. Refers to Intel being the first CPU silicon vendor to implement CSNA 2.0–aligned postquantum cryptography into deployable, hardwarerooted platform security capabilities for commercial client systems among x86-based business PCs.  Based on analysis of publicly available information as of March 2026.  Learn more at https://intel.com/vpro.
7. “10-Year Extended Baseline Servicing for Intel vPro® Platforms is the longest and most comprehensive commercial PC servicing of any silicon vendor.”

Among x86-based commercial PCs, it refers to provision of security and functional updates during the servicing period for Intel vPro® systems powered by Intel Core® Ultra Series 3. Based on Intel analysis of publicly available information as of March 2026. Details at https://intel.com/vpro.

Notices & Disclaimers

Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at https://intel.com/performanceindex

Performance results are based on testing as of dates shown in configurations and may not reflect all publicly available updates.  See backup for configuration details.  No product or component can be absolutely secure. 

Your costs and results may vary. 

All versions of Intel vPro® require an eligible Intel processor, a supported operating system, required connectivity technology, firmware enhancements, and other hardware and software. Remote management requires a network connection; must be a known network for Wi-Fi out-of-band management.  Details at https://intel.com/vpro.

Intel does not control or audit third-party data.  You should consult other sources to evaluate accuracy.

Intel technologies may require enabled hardware, software or service activation.

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