It remains one of the most advanced malware attacks ever seen. The Stuxnet virus, launched against an Iranian nuclear plant in 2010, destroyed critical hardware inside the facility while making everything inside the control room seem normal. Until this week, the cybersecurity community was doubtful there was any defense against Stuxnet, a sophisticated joint U.S.-Israel project. But Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. has just released security controls in its Generation 10 ProLiant servers that apparently provide the answer.

New security designed specifically by HPE would prevent a server from being used for anything other than its intended purpose, according to Bob Moore (pictured, left), director of server software and product security at HPE. “It [Stuxnet] wouldn’t happen with Gen 10, could not,” Moore said.

Moore and James Morrison (pictured, right), a computer scientist with the FBI, spoke with John Furrier (@furrier) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile live-streaming studio, during HPE Discover in Las Vegas, Nevada. They discussed details about the technology behind the new server security and the current threat landscape for businesses around the world. (*Disclosure below.)

Security goes to bedrock of the server

Gen 10 ProLiant server security features protection embedded at the silicon level. By anchoring server central firmware into the silicon, any injection of malicious code would be detected immediately. “We go all the way down to the bedrock of the server,” Moore said. “We’re providing a silicon root of trust.”

As part of the new Gen 10 security, HPE will also provide customers with tools for detection and the capability to recover the entire server. “It’s protection, detection and then recovery,” Moore added.

HPE’s announcement comes at a time when businesses large and small are facing increased computer attacks. The FBI has made cybercrime second only to terrorism on its priority list, and Morrison’s job as a computer scientist is one of 120 that have been recently added by the agency nationwide.

The FBI believes that as many as 200 different countries are now active in criminal cyberspace. “It’s too easy to take a kid out of college, make him or her sympathetic to a cause and then turn them into a hacker,” Morrison said.

Watch the complete interview below and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of HPE Discover US 2017. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for HPE Discover US 2017. Neither Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. nor other sponsors have editorial control on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE