After reading the following in Wired, I am feeling like I was smarter than I thought:
Intel Chip Flaws Leave Millions of Devices Exposed
from https://www.wired.com/story/intel-management-engine-vulnerabilities-pcs-servers-iot/Security researchers have raised the alarm for years about the Intel remote administration feature known as the Management Engine. The platform has a lot of useful features for IT managers, but it requires deep system access that offers a tempting target for attackers; compromising the Management Engine could lead to full control of a given computer. Now, after several research groups have uncovered ME bugs, Intel has confirmed that those worst-case fears may be possible.,,,,,,,,,,,
As with previous ME bugs, nearly every recent Intel chip is impacted, affecting servers, PCs, and IoT devices. Compounding the issue: Intel can provide updates to manufacturers, but customers need to wait for hardware companies to actually push the fixes out. Intel's maintaining a running list of available firmware updates, but so far only Lenovo has offered one up.