Intel completes McAfee purchase

CHIPMAKER Intel has announced that its acquisition of McAfee is complete and that the insecurity firm will continue operating under its own brand.

We're told that something possibly magical from the two companies will arrive later this year, but we won't hold our breath here at The INQUIRER. In its statement Intel says it and McAfee believe today's approach to security does not adequately address the billions of new Internet-ready devices. So in other words today's insecurity software isn't worth the silicon it runs on.

"With the surge in cyber threats, providing protection to a diverse online world requires a fundamentally new approach involving software, hardware and services," said Intel.

The two companies don't have just computers in mind. Their fundamental new approaches to digital security will also include mobile and wireless devices, TVs, cars, medical devices and ATM machines.

So in the future when you're pulling cash out of a bank wall or in a hospital strapped up to a beeping machine, just remember that it could be running McAfee security software. µ