The hardware and its key role for cybersecurity and have good services: why it is important not only to renew the software

For Juan Moscoso, Commercial Sales Manager for the region alone of AMD,the accelerated rhythm of software development is a crucial conditioning to understand the need to have equipment according to the technological needs of the present.

“The evolution of the software has been so fast that the hardware It must have adapted in such a way that it can respond precisely to the need and efficiency of that software. That’s where this race begins, where we are seeing that precisely the evolution of hardware is giving desperate levels, ”says Moscoso.

The AMD executive refers to a context in which the brands of hardware More important launch new products annually by demand. The context is pressing not only for the development and innovation of the companies of the item, but also because the rhythm of adoption of new technologies and systems by the institutions and users of foot is much more accelerated.

“All these needs begin to be generated by the change in technology, because we see that the adoption of new trends – as for example the issue of using artificial intelligence topics of large models of language or automatic learning – are delivering increasingly useful tools for data analysis and at the same time to detect vulnerabilities, ”says the specialist.

In the specific case of the artificial intelligence (AI), software optimization has come from the hand of an unprecedented energy and processing need, but that is clearly delimited by the physical means of hardware. Although the amount of computer units that require models of IA As chat GPT or Deepseek for its development and use is variable, demand for these resources remains high.

Given this situation, Juan Moscoso comments that in the case of AMD “GPU platforms (graphic processing units) have been the most exploitation in terms of number and growth” thanks to the impulse of the IA. The focus on this increase in commercial demand and resources is to offer “higher performance with lower energy consumption.”

Although in the recent past these devices for the acceleration of computational processes linked to automatic learning and the training of incipient AI models had already begun to be used, the boom of the latter has led to the extensive use of GPUs for work that goes beyond simple graphic processing to which the majority of the public associated them.

Ancient teams are a potential risk

Beyond the possibilities provided by the new systems for the detection of computer risks, technological assimilation has been equally accelerated among criminal agents.

For example, Kaspersky He recently warned of an “exponential growth of ‘phishing’ messages driven by AI” in Latin America. Between July 2023 and July 2024, the computer security firm came to count around 397 million phishing blockages, which shows that technological advance has also set more scale to virtual attacks.

Kaspersky’s same report cited other trends such as the use of voice audios and videos manipulated with artificial intelligence (Deep Voice and Deep Fake).

The importance of updating the equipment comes from the vulnerability of the hardware older against computer attacks. According to Juan Moscoso, in the Latin American region it is common to find platforms with more than a decade of antiquity, already obsolete for current needs and incompatible with security updates in security and other benefits, which makes them extremely vulnerable.

“These new tools that are being made available to corporations or governments seek and must find an answer in a hardware Modern, which at the level of benefits can deliver that usability experience that enhances the software making available these new solutions to combat all these vulnerabilities at the cybersecurity level, ”he says.

At this point, the technological lag can go against the principles of data protection, to cite an example, because the data centers that house sensitive information of citizens and institutions would be exposed to malicious activities.

An opinion similar to that of Moscoso has Fabio Assolini, director of the global research and analysis of Kaspersky For Latin America.

“Having older devices there is a risk that these are no longer compatible with the latest security patches or that do not include protection functions at the firmware level, such as the EUFI Secureboot, which is only present in the newest versions of the Windows. In addition, after a while manufacturers stop offering support for hardware Obsolete, which increases the risk of attacks, ”he explains.

According to Assolini, Kaspersky’s corporate threat scene detected that companies in Peru faced more than 9.3 million attacks in a year.

Another important factor indicated by the specialist is the renewal cycle of hardwarewhich varies according to the industry and “the level of criticism of the systems.” The evaluation of the state of the equipment must be constant and the update of these is approximately every 3 or 5 years.

“Factors such as the end of the manufacturer support, compatibility with new security systems and performance of the hardware They must be considered. In addition, by implementing a progressive update strategy, the entire infrastructure is prevented from becoming obsolete at the same time, ”says Kaspersky’s spokesman.

Finally, Assolini indicates that, an element of capital relevance is the use of hardware by the same walking citizen. Although on a different scale, for the general public the criteria for updating their teams is similar to that of state companies and institutions: a outdated team may be more vulnerable to malware, phishing and ransomware and other threats.

“If a device (such as a smartphone or laptop) no longer receives security updates, it is advisable to consider its renewal. At the threat level for users, Peru also has a worrying reality, ”he explains.

According to the Panorama of threats for Latin America of Kaspersky, in the last year there were more than 90 million phishing attacks in Peru, which represents 910,097 of attacks per minute.

After all, technological security also remains the responsibility of the end user.