https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/10/microsoft-secured-core-pc/

Microsoft on Tuesday announced a new hardware security initiative, dubbed Secured-core PC. The short version of what "Secured-core PC" really means is a defense against attacks at the firmware layer.

Although actual firmware-based attacks have been relatively uncommon in the field so far, they represent a particularly nasty avenue of exploitation for an advanced, persistent attacker. Once a machine's firmware is compromised, the exploit is persistent across reboots, operating-system re-installations, and even full hard drive replacement.