Thousands of Macs and PCs may be vulnerable to a sophisticated kind of computer attack

An analysis of more than 70,000 Mac computers being used in businesses and organizations has revealed a firmware vulnerability that could be exploited by a determined, well-resourced attacker such as a foreign government. Thousands of computers, if not more, are potentially in danger. While Apple devices were the focus of the study released Sept 29 by the firm Duo Security, experts at the company said that Windows-based machines are even more likely to be at risk, because of the range of manufacturers involved in building those types of PCs.

The flaw outlined by Duo Security researchers Rich Smith and Pepijn Bruienne concerns Apple's Extensible Firmware Interface, or EFI, which helps computers boot up and run the main operating systefam. Because all subsequent hardware and software operations are dependent on the EFI, allowing hijackers to gain control of it could prove disastrous.