Nvidia is being held hostage by the hacker organization, who demands that hash rate limiters on its high-end graphics cards be removed.
Last month, a hacking organization entered Nvidia systems and attempted to sell software. It allows crypto mining hash rate limiters on the company’s top graphics cards to be removed.
South American Hackers
In late February, a South American hacking organization known as LAPSUS$ claimed to have stolen a terabyte of data from Nvidia servers. The company is now selling software in the form of a customized driver. It will allow users to bypass the company’s high-end graphics card limiters.
The situation was first brought to Nvidia’s attention on February 23. They stated that the threat actor obtained employee credentials as well as some Nvidia confidential data from our systems. They’re also aware that it’s been leaked online.
Through a Telegram channel, the cybercriminal organization has been attempting to extort the California-based corporation. The gang is proposing to bypass constraints on Nvidia’s RTX 3000 series graphics cards, in addition to exposing sensitive personal data that it stole. This is to allow for larger hash rates when mining Ethereum.
PCMag published screenshots from the group’s YouTube account on March 1. According to the report, the breach involves source code. It also contains very sensitive/secret data from the Nvidia GPU driver, Falcon, LHR, and other Nvidia products.
Lite Hash Rate
The acronym LHR stands for “Lite Hash Rate.” It enforces the company’s decision to de-tune its GPUs in 2021 in order to keep crypto miners from buying them all. It would leave some for PC gamers, which is its core market.
The hacking organization is also attempting to extort money from Nvidia. It demands that the limiter be removed from all RTX 3000 series GPUs and that the drivers be made open-source. The corporation gave until March 4 to make a decision.
Nvidia Limits Crypto Mining
Nvidia has declared that it will once again lock new GPUs by lowering mining capacity by 50%. This occurred after a driver upgrade unintentionally unlocked its own hash rate limiting.
On its RTX 3060 series graphics cards, Nvidia is discreetly restoring a hash rate cap. This is part of an effort to make cryptocurrency miners less profitable.
For the previous two years, graphics card prices and availability have been a curse for gamers. It has heightened their animosity toward crypto miners and the sector in general.
If in stock, high-end GPUs can cost up to $1,800. Lower-spec models, on the other hand, are extremely difficult to come by. As a result, a used-card market has emerged, with prices for older graphics cards often exceeding what they cost new in some locations.
