How does it work?
The VIA PadLock Security Engine empowers secure computing by adding extra functions (opcodes) to the processor that gives programmers a suite of tools which, when used, can make data unreadable to unauthorized users (data encryption), and help prevent attacks from hackers and worms.
These tools are a hardware implementation of the latest encryption algorithms that the U.S. Government and many other governments around the world use to secure their information and communications.
A hardware implementation means that the all the hard work to make information safe is done by circuitry inside the computer, rather than by using the operating system, memory and software resources.
In addition to encryption tools, the VIA PadLock Security Engine built into the VIA C7 processor family provides hardware-based mechanisms to help prevent the spread and damage caused by computer worms.
To aid the level and sophistication of the encryption techniques used in VIA PadLock, a twin engine random number generator is also included. This uses the world's best techniques to create these unpredictable numbers at speeds of up to twelve million (12,000,000) random numbers per second, and uses the theories of quantum physics to create unpredictable random numbers. These random numbers play an important role in the techniques used to make information safe, in that the more unpredictable the numbers are, the harder it is for hackers to break into data.
Find out more about the features and benefits of VIA PadLock by clicking on the links in the sidebar menu on the left. |
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The pioneering VIA PadLock™ Security Initiative was instituted by VIA to facilitate the practical implementation of pervasive security for the first time, by integrating directly into VIA processors a powerful security engine.
