I was pretty shocked to read about this, because I never really thought about antivirus solutions in hardware form. But then again, with the way technology is advancing, it probably should have been expected.

TOKYO - Researchers in Japan have developed a microchip that blocks computer viruses before they enter PCs, an advance that could change how security software is used.

Chips in routers can stop viruses without slowing down programmes running on computers the way security software does, according to researcher Eiichi Takahashi at the government-funded National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

But the chips need to be rewritable so they can be updated with online information about new viruses, and that creates a problem, because rewritable chips now can recognise only a few hundred viruses each.

This makes an effective anti-virus chip system prohibitively expensive, while open source software recognises roughly 70,000 viruses, Takahashi said.[more]

Tags: Good on the Net, Computer Protection