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

macos high sierra
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.

The new utility eficheck, located in /usr/libexec/firmwarecheckers/eficheck, runs automatically once a week. It checks that Mac's firmware against Apple's database of what is known to be good. If it passes, you will see nothing of this, but if there are discrepancies, you will be invited to send a report to Apple.

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.

eficheck
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.

EFI, which stands for Extensible Firmware Interface, bridges a Mac's hardware, firmware, and operating system together to enable it to go from power-on to booting macOS.

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

Tags: Security, EFI
Related Forum: macOS High Sierra

Top Rated Comments

jsalda Avatar
86 months ago
Huh, I wonder what this will mean for Hackintosh?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gpat Avatar
86 months ago
Huh, I wonder what this will mean for Hackintosh?
Probably nothing at all.
Will just make actual Macs more secure.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
craig1410 Avatar
86 months ago
This is great news as it should help to guard against any sort of tampering which might result through a bad actor having temporary physical access to a machine such as at a border security point.

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.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Onexy Avatar
86 months ago
Spoken like a government. This is probably not to fight malware but to fight hackintoshs.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cougarcat Avatar
86 months ago
This sounds like a way to get rid of Hackintoshes.
Huh, I wonder what this will mean for Hackintosh?
This doesn’t affect hackintoshes. HS is working on them just fine. (The Apple employee who posted the original tweets even said don’t send in your data if you’re on a hack, because it’s useless to them.)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jblagden Avatar
86 months ago
('https://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 ('https://www.macrumors.com/2017/09/25/macos-high-sierra-weekly-efi-security-check/')
This sounds like a way to get rid of Hackintoshes.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...