Intel vPro Security: Strengthening Endpoint Protection Guide

Like most IT teams, you probably focus your endpoint security efforts on malware running on top of the operating system (OS). Bad actors know that, so they are burrowing lower in the computing stack, below the operating system. A growing wave of threats seeks to modify firmware, compromise the boot process, exploit memory, or steal credentials before traditional security tools can respond. According to a 2024 USENIX Security study of the NIST National Vulnerability Database, firmware vulnerabilities doubled between 2020 and 2021 and continued rising in subsequent years.

Intel vPro security offers several hardware-based security features to improve your firmware security and protect memory below the operating system level. These features work with your existing endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution to add another layer of defense close to the hardware. Here’s how you use Intel vPro security features to protect your devices against threats that target the hardware and firmware beneath the OS.

Defending the Foundation With Below-the-OS Protection

Most endpoint security tools start working once the OS loads. Malicious actors understand this, so they now aim below the OS to launch attacks that can survive even after you reinstall your operating system. To help you protect these lower layers, Intel’s below-the-OS security offers several hardware-based features, including Intel Boot Guard and Intel BIOS Guard.

Intel Boot Guard

Intel Boot Guard helps you protect the boot process from unauthorized firmware modifications. It uses hardware-based verification to check that the initial boot block comes from a trusted source before allowing your system to start. Boot Guard prevents hackers from replacing legitimate firmware with malicious code that can persist even after reinstalling the operating system.

Intel BIOS Guard

Intel BIOS Guard protects your system’s Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) from malicious changes. The feature uses hardware-assisted security controls to restrict BIOS updates to trusted, authorized processes, so malware can’t modify firmware at a layer your endpoint security tool may not monitor.

Maximizing Virtualization and Application Integrity

Intel vPro security also combines hardware and software controls through Intel Hardware Shield, which supports Virtualization-Based Security (VBS). VBS is a Windows feature that uses hardware virtualization to create an isolated environment for sensitive security functions and workloads, separate from the normal operating environment.

Microsoft built VBS to make it harder for malicious software running in the operating system to access your protected credentials or interfere with critical security processes. Before you enable VBS, check that your company’s system has:

A 64-bit CPU with virtualization extensions
Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) support
Firmware that supports System Management Mode
UEFI firmware with the required memory reporting and protection capabilities
Memory integrity-compatible drivers
Secure Boot enabled

Some attackers avoid installing new malware and instead hijack legitimate code using existing instructions to carry out malicious actions. Intel vPro security includes Control-Flow Enforcement Technology (CET), which helps protect against malicious attempts to redirect legitimate program execution to malicious code. As Intel explains, CET adds a shadow stack that keeps protected copies of return addresses, plus indirect branch tracking, so your processor can detect when execution strays from its intended path.

Accelerating Detection Through Hardware-Assisted Telemetry

Beyond prevention, your security team needs visibility into suspicious activity, especially when threats attempt to evade traditional detection methods. Intel Threat Detection Technology (TDT) provides hardware telemetry your security software can use to identify threat activities such as:

Ransomware
Cryptojacking
Fileless attack on memory
Software supply chain attacks
Zero-day attacks

Because the signal comes from the processor, TDT adds visibility that software-only monitoring might miss.

However, TDT works through your endpoint detection and response (EDR) software. For instance, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint uses it for accelerated memory scanning and CPU-assisted ransomware detection. Your hardware provides the telemetry, which your EDR analyzes, raises alerts on, and uses to drive responses. But before you start using TDT, confirm that your EDR vendor supports it.

Improving Incident Response and Remediation Capabilities

Threat detection is only helpful if your IT team can respond quickly. With Intel vPro, your team gets hardware-based remote management that provides access to your fleet of PCs even when the operating system is unavailable or the PC is off.

According to Intel, its Active Management Technology (AMT), available on Intel vPro Enterprise PCs, gives you out-of-band management that runs independently of the OS. If your endpoint software is compromised or fails to boot, you can remotely repair:

Corrupted drivers
OS
BIOS configuration

AMT’s remote response and remediation capability can shorten the time between detecting an incident and taking action. You don’t have to wait for a user to restart, reconnect, or bring a compromised device to the office for your IT team to begin troubleshooting. Instead, remote management becomes part of your strategy to modernize security and endpoint management because your IT team can still reach and repair a device when the OS can’t respond.

Intel says AMT can reach even a powered-off device, but laptops have some limitations. On notebooks, AMT may be unavailable or limited when your device is connected wirelessly, running on battery power, using a host OS-based VPN, sleeping, hibernating, or powered off.

Integrating Hardware Security Into a Layered Defense Model

Instead of treating Intel vPro as a standalone security product, treat it as a pillar of your layered security.

Hardware-backed controls such as Boot Guard and BIOS Guard protect the firmware and boot process to establish trust below the OS.
VBS isolates sensitive credentials and workloads so if your OS is compromised, it doesn’t expose them.
CET strengthens application protection, making malicious memory exploits harder.
TDT provides hardware telemetry for threat detection.
AMT lets your IT team remotely diagnose and repair devices even when the OS is unresponsive.

With this approach, you can support a Zero Trust model, which assumes no user or device deserves trust just because they are inside your network. Intel vPro moves security to the silicon level, giving your endpoint software a more reliable basis to decide which device to trust. You end with defense in depth across hardware, operating system, applications, and identity. Here’s Intel vPro, explained for a closer look at how hardware security works in real-world environments.