macOS High Sierra Automatically Performs Security Check on EFI Firmware Each Week

Huh, I wonder what this will mean for Hackintosh?

('//www.macrumors.com/2017/09/25/macos-high-sierra-weekly-efi-security-check/')


Mac users who upgrade to macOS High Sierra will benefit from a significant new security feature that works in the background.



macOS High Sierra automatically checks a Mac's EFI firmware against Apple's database of "known good" data to ensure it hasn't been tampered with, according to a series of tweets from an Apple engineer.

The tweets have since been deleted, but a summary remains available on the Mac blog The Eclectic Light Company ('https://eclecticlight.co/2017/09/24/high-sierra-automatically-checks-efi-firmware-each-week/').If the check fails, a prompt will appear with options to "Send to Apple" or "Don't Send." The selection is remembered in subsequent weeks.



The "eficheck" tool sends the binary data from the EFI firmware, and preserves user privacy by excluding data which is stored in NVRAM, according to The Eclectic Light Company. Apple will then be able to analyze the data to determine whether it has been altered by malware or anything else.

The database's library will be automatically and silently updated so long as security updates are turned on.

macOS High Sierra will be publicly released on the Mac App Store later today.

Article Link: macOS High Sierra Automatically Performs Security Check on EFI Firmware Each Week ('//www.macrumors.com/2017/09/25/macos-high-sierra-weekly-efi-security-check/')

This sounds like a way to get rid of Hackintoshes.

Huh, I wonder what this will mean for Hackintosh?

This wouldn't have any impact on the reverse, would it? I decided to throw out the Snow Leopard partition on my 2006 Mac Mini and replace it with a current version of Lubuntu, since increasingly little software still supports Snow Leopard and I was worried my Mac Mini was vulnerable having gone so long without a security update.

I guess obviously not. If macOS isn't on the computer, then this efi firmware check would be gone, right? Or is it somewhere below what the Lubuntu installer would have noticed (like, is it in the efi itself? IDK. We're just beyond the realm of stuff I understand now.)

I honestly don't believe that Hackintoshes are being targeted here but if increasing legitimate Mac security results in Hackintoshes having a few bumps in the road then so be it IMO.