F-Secure said  in a statement that the flaw had nothing to do with the "Spectre" and  "Meltdown" vulnerabilities recently found in the micro-chips that are  used in almost all computers, tablets and smartphones today.

Rather, it was an issue within Intel Active Management Technology  (AMT), "which is commonly found in most corporate laptops, (and) allows  an attacker to take complete control over a user's device in a matter of seconds," the cybersecurity firm said.

"The issue potentially affects millions of laptops globally."