Apple Macbook News: Security Firm Discovers Firmware Vulnerabilities Despite Patches Released By Tech Giant

By Shannon Azares, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Apple's MacBook lineup is notoriously known for having a hefty price tag. However, it has also become known to be a laptop that provides their users' security from viruses.

Unfortunately, a new security report has concluded that a concerning number of Mac products are still exposed to Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) vulnerabilities. Furthermore, these problems were also found to be almost impossible to detect and disinfect.

"For the main EFI vulnerabilities that were acknowledged by Apple and patched during the time of our analysis, there were surprising numbers of models of Macs that received no update to their EFI despite continuing to receive software security updates," security firm Duo Security said in a statement. "Further compounding this issue is the difficulty for end users to find out exactly which systems are receiving EFI updates as well as which security issues a particular version of EFI may be vulnerable to."

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The EFI is an important component of laptops as it is the first to run once the power button is pressed on a Mac. The patches that the security firm mentioned pertain to the vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit through the Thunderstrike and Thunderstrike 2, as well as the Sonic Screwdriver.

Furthermore, it is a major issue for Mac users as data from the EFI can give attackers all the information they need, beginning with the first command that users give their Macs.

The report from Duo Security also emphasized that the EFI vulnerabilities can be found on Windows and Linus computers as well, considering that their motherboards are created and developed by different manufacturers

Apple has acknowledged the EFI issue and stated that the company is working hard to address firmware security. Furthermore, they encourage fans to keep their devices up to date, especially since the macOS high Sierra validates Mac firmware on a weekly basis.