NSA officials said that they had foiled a malware attack that could have taken down the U.S. economy. The attack would have been disguised as a request for a software update. NSA Director General Keith Alexander and Information Assurance Director Debora Plunkett made a number of claims. The BIOS malware is not new in the cyber world, and really not a big threat, but if NSA seriously justifying their Surveillance program by saying that this so called BIOS malware was one of the biggest threat they has taken down, then LET ME LAUGH.
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2013/12/bios-malware-that-can-remotely-destroy_16.html