Nvidia Data Hackers Demand Removal of Crypto Mining Limits

Key Insights:

• Nvidia stated that the hacker took employee credentials and began leaking data.
• They clarified that the hackers had deployed no malicious malware.
• Among the released information, source codes and data from Nvidia GPU drivers, LHR, etc., have also been leaked.

According to a report from Bloomberg, hacker group LAPSU$ has managed to hack Nvidia for proprietary data. The tech company known for their Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and drivers confirmed the same.

The information extracted by the hackers includes source code and data of Nvidia products and services.

Nvidia Hacked!

Identified to be a South American hacker group, LAPSU$ members are said to have their presence in Western Europe.

The group managed to hack Nvidia for ransom which was relatively unconventional for such corporations.

Instead of demanding money, the group demanded that Nvidia remove their graphics cards’ mining limits.

Last year Nvidia reduced the capabilities of Ethereum mining on its graphics card by half due to the increasing demand. The graphics cards were sold with the new “Lite Hash Rate” label to discourage miners from stocking up these cards.

Thus the LAPSU$ group stole critical information, source codes, and confidential data concerning Nvidia GPU driver, Falcon, LHR, and more. An official from the company stated:

“We are aware that the threat actor took employee credentials and some Nvidia proprietary information from our systems and has begun leaking it online. Our team is working to analyze that information. We do not anticipate any disruption to our business or our ability to serve our customers as a result of the incident.”

As it is, hackers have started leaking some of the hacked data, and the company stands at the risk of losing it all if they decline to cooperate.

In the Past

Nvidia, back in 2020, was the victim of the SolarWinds hack by the Russian government, which infected the company’s computers.

But Nvidia’s growing problems might end up driving users to other mining options, such as its long-time competitor Intel’s new Bonanza crypto mining chip.

Launched in the latter half of February, the Bitcoin ASIC miner is reported to be 1000 times better in performance when compared to SHA-256 based mining GPUs.

Capable of producing up to 40 Tera hashes per second, this chip could end up being a massive disadvantage for Nvidia.