Dell Addresses Emerging Quantum Risks, AI Era Resilience

Dell Technologies is taking a step in expanding cybersecurity and resilience for the AI era and emerging quantum threats by introducing new security capabilities to help organizations secure, detect, and recover from next-gen threats.

Quantum computing and AI continue to introduce new security threats

These latest enhancements address risks from quantum computing and AI by strengthening cyber resilience and extending threat detection into AI data platforms.

AI-powered threats are increasing in prevalence, making threat actors more efficient and capable of executing more attacks. Quantum, meanwhile, will weaken the encryption technology that organizations use to protect data and software.

Introducing quantum-ready protections to commercial PCs

Dell has introduced quantum-ready security features to its commercial PCs to protect against quantum-based attacks that evade traditional security tools and that can remain hidden after a restart or system reinstall.

These upgraded security features reinforce the PC’s embedded controller (EC), a core hardware security component, to verify firmware updates using signatures designed to resist future quantum-enabled attacks. 

These features will help prevent the controller from accepting malicious or tampered firmware and reduce supply chain risk by validating updates with stronger encryption and digital signatures.

How BIOS Verification system aligns with emerging threat standards

Further, Dell’s enhanced BIOS Verification capability, aligned with post-quantum standards, can detect tampering by comparing the BIOS against a trusted reference securely stored in Dell’s cloud. 

Dell’s unique verification flags the device and triggers an alert for security teams if something does not match.

“Quantum computing will break the encryption and digital signatures protecting data today, while agentic AI raises the stakes by increasing the value of data and autonomously shares it across teams and organizations,” said John Roese, global CTO and chief AI officer, Dell. 

“We’ve been preparing for both shifts for almost a decade through our investments in post-quantum cryptography and our approach to cyber resilience and security by design. We are continuing to bring these protections across our portfolio to help organizations navigate emerging technologies and stay ahead of tomorrow’s threats,” Reese’s statement continued.

AI-powered recovery to boost cyber resilience

Dell is also strengthening its PowerProtect cyber resilience portfolio to help organizations detect threats like ransomware sooner and recover faster from incidents.

This includes enhancements to the PowerProtect Data Manager to help organizations resolve recovery issues with speed, utilizing an AI-powered assistant that provides:

• Contextualized guidance during time-sensitive tasks.
• Spotting ransomware risk earlier with enhanced anomaly detection that scans Dell PowerStore snapshots.
• Simplified management at scale with a unified dashboard across distributed systems.

PowerProtect Data Domain will also see extended protection to smaller sites and enhance data security in transit. 

The PowerProtect Domain DD3410 appliance delivers up to two times faster backups and 46 percent faster data restores. The updates to the Data Domain Operating System now include support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 to help protect data while it moves between systems and align with NIST requirements for encrypted connections.

Dell Technologies expands MDR into AI workloads

Furthermore, Dell is extending its Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service into environments where unstructured data and AI workloads live.

Dell MDR will now extend to Dell PowerScale, providing organizations with enhanced visibility into threats targeting their AI data storage platforms.

This service will enable earlier detection of suspicious activity and automate response actions, streamlining security operations and safeguarding critical data.

Dell will also be introducing a new Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)-only option that monitors, investigates, and responds to endpoint threats utilizing advanced threat detection and next-gen antivirus capabilities.

The service provides visibility into BIOS verification results when used in conjunction with Dell PCs. 

An alert will be sent to Dell’s MDR team to investigate if a PC’s BIOS has drifted from its trusted baseline due to a potential compromise.

“As AI adoption expands, security teams need to protect more high-value data in areas where traditional controls may not provide adequate visibility into how threats move across AI workloads and data platforms,” said Fernando Montenegro, vice president and practice lead, Cybersecurity & Resilience, Futurum. 

“Dell’s approach reflects this broader cyber resilience strategy aimed at reducing risk, deepening security visibility, and helping organizations recover more effectively when incidents occur,” Montenegro’s statement continued.

The news of these updates comes shortly after Dell announced annual updates to its partner program. Read more about these updates and how they work to serve partners on their path to business success.