Cybercrime

AMD Confirms Hacker Stole Information on Graphics Products

AMD has confirmed that a hacker has stolen files related to some of its graphics products, but the company says it’s not too concerned about the impact of the leak.

Eduard Kovacs

March 26, 2020

AMD has confirmed that a hacker has stolen files related to some of its graphics products, but the company says it’s not too concerned about the impact of the leak.

A hacker who uses the online moniker “Palesa” claims to have obtained source code files related to several AMD graphics processing units (GPUs), including the Navi 10 architecture, which is used in some Radeon RX 5000-series graphics cards, the upcoming Navi 21, and Arden. Arden is the codename for the GPUs that will power Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Series X consoles.

Palesa told SecurityWeek that the files were taken from a server owned by AMD, not from a contractor. The hacker is hoping to obtain some money for the files, either from AMD or someone else.

Palesa claims to have already received some “good offers in bitcoin” for the files — the hacker says the offers range between $50,000 and $100,000 — but they are waiting for “AMD to speak on this.”

In a statement published on its website, AMD described the stolen files as “test files related to a subset of our current and future graphics products.” The company said it was contacted by someone claiming to have the files in December 2019.

Palesa recently made available some of the stolen files on GitHub, but they were removed as a result of a DMCA takedown request filed by AMD. Some screenshots of the stolen files are still available on GitHub and the hacker has promised to send proof to anyone interested in buying them.

AMD GPU files stolen by hacker

“While we are aware the perpetrator has additional files that have not been made public, we believe the stolen graphics IP is not core to the competitiveness or security of our graphics products. We are not aware of the perpetrator possessing any other AMD IP,” AMD said.

“We are working closely with law enforcement officials and other experts as a part of an ongoing criminal investigation,” the company added.

Written By Eduard Kovacs

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

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