Hackers Who Broke Into NVIDIA’s Network Leak DLSS Source Code Online

American chipmaking company NVIDIA on Tuesday confirmed that its
network was breached as a result of a cyber attack, enabling the
perpetrators to gain access to sensitive data, including source
code purportedly associated with its Deep Learning Super Sampling
(DLSS) technology.

“We have no evidence of ransomware being deployed on the NVIDIA
environment or that this is related to the Russia-Ukraine
conflict,” the company said^[1]
in a security notice. “However, we are aware that the threat actor
took employee passwords and some NVIDIA proprietary information
from our systems and has begun leaking it online.”

The incident is said to have come to light on February 23, with
the company noting that it’s taken steps to analyze the leaked
information and that it’s enforcing all of its employees to change
their passwords with immediate effect.

The confirmation comes days after The Telegraph^[2]
last week reported that the company is investigating a potential
cyber attack that took “parts of its business offline for two
days.” Bloomberg, in a follow-on report, said^[3]
the breach was a minor ransomware attack, citing a “person familiar
with the incident.”

According to dark web intelligence firm DarkTracer, the LAPSUS$
extortionist gang – also behind the attacks on Impresa, Localiza,
Claro, and Embratel earlier this year – has claimed^[4]
responsibility for the incident, leaking what it said was stolen
confidential information^[5] unless paid a “fee.”

On top of that, the group also alleged^[6]
that NVIDIA had hacked back and encrypted the plundered data with
ransomware, adding it eventually recovered the files from a
backup.

Subsequently, the intruders revised their demands, calling on
NVIDIA to release a software update that removes the Lite Hash Rate
(LHR^[7]) technology in its
graphics cards, which is designed to reduce the Ethereum mining
rate by 50% and prevent cryptocurrency miners from buying the
gaming-focused GPUs.

“We request that NVIDIA commits to completely open-source (and
distribute under a FOSS license) their GPU drivers for Windows,
macOS, and Linux, from now on and forever,” the cybercriminals
posted on their Telegram group, in addition to threatening with
more leaks and offering a LHR bypass tool for $1 million.

The developments, however, haven’t fazed NVIDIA. “We do not
anticipate any disruption to our business or our ability to serve
our customers as a result of the incident,” the company said in a
statement.