Dell Technologies has introduced new cybersecurity and cyber resilience features across its PC, data protection and managed detection products, targeting threats linked to artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
The updates span commercial PCs, the PowerProtect portfolio and managed detection and response services. They include post-quantum protections for firmware integrity, improved ransomware detection in backup environments and broader monitoring for AI data platforms.
PC security
Part of the update focuses on the lowest software layers in Dell’s commercial PCs. New protections are intended to harden the embedded controller, which manages core hardware functions and can be a target for attacks that persist beyond a restart or system reinstall.
The controller will verify firmware updates using signatures designed to withstand future quantum attacks. Dell has also updated BIOS Verification so systems can compare the BIOS against a trusted reference stored in Dell’s cloud and trigger an alert if the code does not match.
Dell presented these measures as part of a broader shift towards post-quantum security. Quantum computing remains at an early stage, but security vendors and hardware makers are preparing for the possibility that current encryption and signing methods could become easier to break.
John Roese, Global CTO and Chief AI Officer at Dell Technologies, outlined the company’s view of the risk. “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. 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,” he said.
Recovery tools
Dell has also expanded functions in its PowerProtect line for backup, recovery and cyber recovery. The changes are intended to help customers identify signs of ransomware earlier and reduce the time needed to restore data after an incident.
PowerProtect Data Manager now includes an AI assistant that provides guidance during recovery tasks. It also adds enhanced anomaly detection that scans PowerStore snapshots for signs of ransomware risk, along with a unified dashboard for managing distributed systems.
Another addition is the PowerProtect Data Domain DD3410 appliance, which extends the Data Domain line to smaller sites. Dell said the system offers faster backup and restore performance, while the latest Data Domain Operating System adds support for Transport Layer Security 1.3 to secure data moving between systems.
The focus on recovery reflects a wider industry shift. Many organisations now treat resilience and recovery speed as core security measures, particularly as ransomware attacks continue to target backup systems and business-critical data.
Dell cited its own research showing that only 40% of organisations globally managed to contain and recover from a cyberattack or incident drill with minimal impact. The finding supports its argument that backup infrastructure and restoration workflows need to be tested and improved, not just perimeter defences.
One customer example came from the hospitality sector, where downtime can disrupt bookings, operations and guest services. Javier González Belinchón, Director, Corporate Infrastructure & Operations at Palladium Hotel Group, described how Dell’s data protection tools are being used in practice.
“In luxury hospitality, even a brief IT disruption during peak operations can have a major impact. We work with heavy workloads, and PowerProtect Data Manager’s Transparent Snapshots make a real difference. We get no business disruption, lower risk of data loss and the VM backup times are cut in half. Coupled with our PowerProtect Data Domain appliance, deduplication and compression optimize bandwidth, remote backups are seamless and storage requirements are drastically reduced,” he said.
AI data
Dell’s managed detection and response service is also being extended to PowerScale, its scale-out storage platform often used for unstructured data and AI workloads. The move is intended to improve visibility into environments that may sit outside traditional endpoint tools.
These environments have grown more important as businesses build AI systems around large stores of training data, files and operational information. Security specialists have warned that attackers may increasingly target these repositories because they combine high-value data with tools that standard endpoint monitoring does not always cover.
Dell said its analysts will support the expanded service and that response actions can be automated. It also introduced an endpoint detection and response-only option that monitors and investigates threats on endpoints and can use BIOS verification alerts from Dell PCs as an additional signal for investigators.
Fernando Montenegro, Vice President & Practise Lead, Cybersecurity & Resilience at Futurum, said the changes reflect a broader market direction. “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. 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,” he said.
Several of the software updates are available now, while the new PC protections will appear on new Dell commercial PCs launching in 2026.
