We are all waiting to know what the AMD RDNA2 architecture brings us and how it will execute Hardware RayTracing. Well, maybe we will know much earlier than expected since AMD has suffered an Intellectual Property theft in its graphics division. The company has not given many details about it, only that they could have limited the leakage of this data.
The company indicates that in December 2019 a person contacted them confidential company files. These files have to do "with the development of future graphic products." Apparently this information has to do with the RDNA2 architecture, which was posted on the internet and was later deleted.
No products found.
AMD security breach compromises RDNA2
We have no further information on how this person obtained Intellectual Property information from the Radeon division. AMD wanted to make it clear that "the leakage of this data will not affect the competitiveness or security of its next graphics processors." They have also said that they are working with authorities through a criminal investigation to find the culprit.
At AMD, data security and the protection of our Intellectual Property (IP) are a priority. In December 2019, we were contacted by someone claiming to have test files related to a subset of our current and future graphics products, some of which were recently posted on the internet, but have since been withdrawn.
While we are aware that the author has other files that have not been made public, we believe that the Intellectual Property of stolen graphics is not critical to the competitiveness or safety of our graphics products. We are not aware that the author owns any other AMD IP.
We are working closely with law enforcement officials and other experts as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Major blackmail for AMD
According to the Torrent Freak medium, AMD would have requested the application of the copyright law [Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)] for the suppression of the leaked documentation.
Whoever has the documents published the source code related to drivers or firmware of the graphics on GitHub under the pseudonym 'xxXsoullessXxx'. The repository called "AMD-navi-GPU-HARDWARE-SOURCE" contained the code for Navi 10, Navi 21 and Arden, the latter, a possible name for the Xbox Series X GPU. DMCA, they deleted the post.
They also communicate the attacker's version:
In November 2019, I found the source codes for the AMD Navi GPU hardware on a hacked computer. The user did not take any effective action against the leakage of the codes.
The source code was unexpectedly obtained from an unprotected computer / server through some exploits. Later I found out about the files inside it. They weren't even properly protected or even encrypted with something, which is just sad.
To prevent the information from being leaked, the attacker requested $ 100 million as a 'ransom'
Source: wccftech
