Mining, Technology
Nvidia hackers are offering software to bypass crypto mining limiters on graphics cards.
Mar
A hacker organisation that penetrated Nvidia systems is offering software that is used to bypass crypto mining hash rate limits.
LAPSUS$, a South American hacker organisation, claims to have stolen a terabyte of data from Nvidia servers in late February.
The firm is now selling software in the form of a modified driver to unlock the graphics card limiters.
Nvidia reported that it learned about the event on February 23 and stated, according to sources on March 2:
“We are aware that the threat actor took employee credentials and some Nvidia proprietary information from our systems and has begun leaking it online.”
Through a Telegram channel, the cybercriminal organisation has been attempting to extort the Nvidia corporation.
In addition to exposing sensitive personal data that it stole, the gang is proposing to circumvent Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series graphics card limitations in order to allow better hash rates for Ethereum mining.
PCMag published photos from the group’s channel on March 1. They stated that:
“This leak involves source code and extremely confidential/secret material from different portions of Nvidia GPU driver, Falcon, LHR, and similar.”
LHR stands for “Lite Hash Rate”, a limitation developed by the firm in 2021 to de-tune its GPUs in order to dissuade crypto miners from snatching them all up, leaving some for its primary market of PC gaming.
The hacker gang is also trying to keep Nvidia hostage by demanding that the limitation be removed from all RTX 3000 series cards and drivers be made open-source.
The corporation has been given until March 4 to make a decision.
Graphics card pricing and availability have been a source of frustration for gamers over the last two years. Exacerbating their resentment towards crypto miners and the industry in general.
High-end GPUs may cost up to $1,800 if they are in stock, and lower-spec ones are very difficult to find. Resulting in the formation of a used-card market in which prices for older graphics cards can surpass initial costs.
