Intel brings in desktop support for NX security protection

By Alun Williams

Posted on 4 Oct 2004 at 17:11

Intel has introduced desktop support for an important security feature in XP SP2 - a hardware defence against buffer-overrun attacks.

When Microsoft issued Windows XP Service Pack 2 back in August it included a security feature to tackle such vulnerabilities, which are frequently exploited by virus writers. Essentially data is crafted to include sequences of code that will be erroneously executed and compromise the integrity of systems.
The service pack introduced a NX 'no-instruction' buffer overrun feature that, when coupled with hardware that supports the technology, should block such exploits. AMD supported the NX feature in its desktop AMD64 processors from the beginning and now Intel is following suit with XD (execute disable) Bit.

A spokesperson for Intel pointed out that such hardware support existed in the Itanium 1 server back in 2001 and was being brought into the desktop lines now that supporting software - i.e. XP SP2 - was available and had been validated. On the server side of things, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 is required.

Execute Disable Bit works by enabling a processor to classify areas in memory where application code can and can not execute. Code that is inserted into data buffers should be ignored.

The new models from Intel have a 'J' suffix for identification and they include the 5xx series of Pentium 4 processors. Specifically, the (2.8GHz) 520J to the 560J (3.6GHz). There are also new 3xx series Celeron D processors, ranging from the (2.53GHz) 325J to the (2.93GHz) 340J.

There is no price differential between the models on whether they support the new XP feature or not - the 'J' processors are priced at the same level.

Note that three other processors have been announced as part of the reshuffle. There is now a (3.33GHz) Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor, the 548, which is priced at $262. There is also a couple of new Celeron M mobile processors - the (1.4GHz) 360 and the (1.3GHz) 150, which cost $134 and $107 respectively.

As always, prices are based on 1,000 unit direct orders.