BIOS and UEFI, TPM 2.0, and Secure Boot
BIOS, also known as the Basic Input/Output System, is loaded directly onto a PC motherboard. Its purpose is to initialize the physical hardware, go through a series of processes, and eventually boot into Windows. Just like the operating system or PC software, the BIOS in your systems can become outdated and vulnerable to unauthorized modification. Furthermore, the BIOS initializes privileged hardware processes with greater rights than the operating system itself. Malware not only targets the OS, but other mechanisms in the boot process, including the boot loader and hypervisor used for virtualization. It's important to have a system of authorized update mechanisms for updating the BIOS and ensure it's only configured and signed by an authentic source such as the device manufacturer. In order to maintain the integrity of the BIOS and mitigate risks from malware such as bootkits, digital signature verification should be used for updates...