Qualcomm unveils anti-malware chip

Qualcomm said Monday it is baking additional security into its upcoming top-tier Snapdragon processors for Android smartphones – tapping machine learning technology to pinpoint hacker attacks

Called Snapdragon Smart Protect, the technology looks for and reports unusual behavior by apps and other software on a device that might signal malware threat.

The technology is the first to emerge from Qualcomm’s Zeroth technology development program – which allows devices to learn from how they are used and to better recognize what is going on around them.

“Essentially you have something that sits on the phone that monitors what’s going on and reports anomalies,” said Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf in an interview. “It’s an extension of our computer learning and machine learning capability. Putting security into devices is a really important component of where we are going.”

Earlier this year, the San Diego company unveiled Sense ID 3D Fingerprint Technology. It uses ultrasonic wavelengths to get a more accurate three-dimensional fingerprint scan to unlock devices.

That’s an upgrade from current, two-dimensional sensor image of what’s touching the screen.

Smart Protect will be part of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 line of smartphone processors expected in Android devices next year. The company has a lot riding on the Snapdragon 820. Its current generation of smartphone processor – the Snapdragon 810 – was dropped from Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S6 smartphone line – hurting Qualcomm’s financial results. The company has said it’s working to win back Samsung’s business in the next generation of Galaxy phone.

By uncovering anomalies in real time, Smart Protect augments traditional anti-virus software, the company said.

“With consumers storing more personal information on their devices, data leakage incidents and malware are on the rise,” said Asaf Ashkenazi, director of product management for Qualcomm Technologies. “Snapdragon Smart Protect supports deep on-device monitoring for nearly instantaneous notifications of detected privacy violations and malicious activity while also providing great system performance and battery life.”

Qualcomm is making Smart Protect available to existing security product makers and other app developers who want to harden their software against hackers.

The company said is it’s already working with mobile security providers such as Avast, AVG and Lookout to make Smart Protect available within their anti-malware products.

The technology also can benefit wireless operators, according to Qualcomm, by reducing fraudulent charges and network congestion sometimes linked to malware-infected devices.

Snapdragon Smart Protect will be part of the Qualcomm Haven security system. Haven includes hardware-based security technology designed to make Snapdragon processors resistant to targeted attacks. It also has content protection and kill switch technology that lets users remotely disable their mobile device if it’s stolen or lost, and re-enable it if it’s found.