Intel to battle rootkits

The chipmaker is working on hardware-based security protection that will tell people when a rootkit is being downloaded to their PC, according to a report in ITObserver. The plan is to put a small chip on the motherboard to do this, Intel said at a press and analyst event in Folsom, Calif., on Thursday.

The move comes as Sony works to pull itself out of an embroglio over rootkit-like tool included in the antipiracy software on some of its CDs.