AMD Reports Theft of Graphics IP, Stolen Information Not Core to Competitiveness

[btarunr]

AMD today disclosed that in December 2019, it was contacted by a person in possession of test files related to development of future graphics products, some of which were posted online and later taken down. This person has additional files that were never posted online, but the company maintains the data breach won't affect the competitiveness or security of its upcoming graphics processors. The company said that it is working closely with law enforcement as part of a criminal investigation into the incident.

The statement by AMD follows:

At AMD, data security and the protection of our intellectual property are a priority. In December 2019, we were contacted by someone who claimed to have test files related to a subset of our current and future graphics products, some of which were recently posted online, but have since been taken down. 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. We are working closely with law enforcement officials and other experts as a part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

According to a Torrent Freak report, AMD used the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to take down the leaked information. The person behind the data breach posted the it (mostly source code related to drivers or firmware), onto a GitHub repository by the handle "xxXsoullessXxx," and titled "AMD-navi-GPU-HARDWARE-SOURCE." The repo contains code that points to "Navi 10," "Navi 21," and "Arden," possibly an internal codename for the GPU of Xbox Series X. Following the DMCA complaint, GitHub's admins promptly scrubbed the repo.

The Torrent Freak report also includes a conversation with the person. "In November 2019, I found AMD Navi GPU hardware source codes in a hacked computer. The user didn't take any effective action against the leak of the codes," she states. "The source code was unexpectedly achieved from an unprotected computer//server through some exploits. I later found out about the files inside it. They weren't even protected properly or even encrypted with anything which is just sad." The leaker values the information at around $100 million, and is willing to sell it to the highest bidder. "If I get no buyer I will just leak everything," she told Torrent Freak.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[lexluthermiester]

"If I get no buyer I will just leak everything," she told Torrent Freak.

That takes a special brand of crazy. Ballzy, but crazy.

 

[mechtech]

good luck finding a buyer

possession is 9/10 of the law they say.........

 

[eidairaman1]

And this person will be charged to the maximum for criminal activity

 

[moproblems99]

You aren't supposed to tell people you will just leak it if no one buys it. Now no one will buy it.

 

[the54thvoid]

And this person will be charged to the maximum for criminsl activity

I know a lot of folks around TPU view hackers as some sort of 'cool rogue types' but frankly, in the main, anybody who hides in the shadows to exploit others is on my shit list for death island*.

*Death Island - where I put all my 'disagreeables'**.


**Disagreeables - those who are anathema to the welfare of humanity***.


***Anyone who doesn't like Calvin & Hobbes.

 

[moob]

I know a lot of folks around TPU view hackers as some sort of 'cool rogue types' but frankly, in the main, anybody who hides in the shadows to exploit others is on my shit list for death island*.
*Death Island - where I put all my 'disagreeables'**.
**Disagreeables - those who are anathema to the welfare of humanity***.
***Anyone who doesn't like Calvin & Hobbes.

I'd like to sign up for your newsletter.

 

[the54thvoid]

Shamefully off-topic but:

I also made a C&H christmas card for my (now) wife when we were pen-pals. About 30 years ago.

Edit: she just told me she still has it.

But on-topic, bad hackers!

 

[PerfectWave]

must be Jen-Hsun Huang who stolen AMD secret LUL. Scared about new RDNA2 LUL

 

[Fluffmeister]

Turing is already packing all those features.

Anyway, no one is going to buy stolen IP, so they might as well leak it!

 

[eidairaman1]

I know a lot of folks around TPU view hackers as some sort of 'cool rogue types' but frankly, in the main, anybody who hides in the shadows to exploit others is on my shit list for death island*.

*Death Island - where I put all my 'disagreeables'**.


**Disagreeables - those who are anathema to the welfare of humanity***.


***Anyone who doesn't like Calvin & Hobbes.

Yup hackers are cate'd to either whitehat or blackhat.

 

[Aquinus]

Sounds like a blatant violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the United States.

I know a lot of folks around TPU view hackers as some sort of 'cool rogue types' but frankly, in the main, anybody who hides in the shadows to exploit others is on my shit list for death island*.

Hacking someone or an organization and holding their data for ransom under threat of releasing it to the public is about as legally and ethically reprehensible as it gets for a non-violent crime.

Just because a door to a house is unlocked doesn't mean you're allowed to enter and do whatever the hell you want, and taking anything without permission is theft.

 

[ARF]

Turing is already packing all those features.

Speaking of which, it's disturbing how far behind AMD fell behind Intel and Nvidia in supporting the basic DirectX features.
It's painful to watch.

Latest "rumours" from a site-which-shouldn't-be-even-mentioned say October 2020 release for both Navi 2* and Zen 3-based Vermeer.

 

[eidairaman1]

must be Jen-Hsun Huang who stolen AMD secret LUL. Scared about new RDNA2 LUL

You might very well be right.

xxXsoullessXxx - Overview

I <3 nvidia palesaferns@protonmail.com btc:17iYajfijwsvCdrRos19s1Xb49nWX2ZSxF - xxXsoullessXxx

github.com

Sounds like a blatant violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the United States.

Hacking someone or an organization and holding their data for ransom under threat of releasing it to the public is about as legally and ethically reprehensible as it gets for a non-violent crime.

Just because a door to a house is unlocked doesn't mean you're allowed to enter and do whatever the hell you want, and taking anything without permission is theft.

It's a felony charge i believe.

 

[Turmania]

I would understand if this happened to Green camp.but red camp? who would steal it?!guess we will know when which camp has driver issues consistantly for months

 

[Kaotik]

Speaking of which, it's disturbing how far behind AMD fell behind Intel and Nvidia in supporting the basic DirectX features.
It's painful to watch.

Funny, I don't remember people calling the same when NVIDIA was lagging behind, it took them 2 years to catch up on AMD's D3D FL11_1 and 12_0 support, just about the same time it's taking AMD to catch up to NVIDIAs FL12_2 support.

 

[ARF]

Funny, I don't remember people calling the same when NVIDIA was lagging behind, it took them 2 years to catch up on AMD's D3D FL11_1 and 12_0 support, just about the same time it's taking AMD to catch up to NVIDIAs FL12_2 support.

Could you say your estimate of how much performance improvement will be coming from the Variable Rate Shading implementation?

 

[Fluffmeister]

DX12 was all about "future proof" AMD cards in recent years, I can see why some might be... What is the technical term? Butthurt.

 

[mtcn77]

Could you say your estimate of how much performance improvement will be coming from the Variable Rate Shading implementation?

Variable shading is not a smart idea, unless you couple it with stochastic lighting, a.k.a. ray tracing. Reducing pixel rate at close/near perspective is as thick as it comes.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Shamefully off-topic but:

View attachment 149300

I also made a C&H christmas card for my (now) wife when we were pen-pals. About 30 years ago.

Edit: she just told me she still has it.

But on-topic, bad hackers!

I grew up on C&H—there are 3 books on our shelves here (Weirdos from Another Planet, The Essential C&H, and The Indispensable C&H).

 

[ARF]

Variable shading is not a smart idea, unless you couple it with stochastic lighting, a.k.a. ray tracing. Reducing pixel rate at close/near perspective is as thick as it comes.

Variable Rate Shading focuses/redirects rendering performance in the areas of the scene that need it the most - for example little processing power for the sky or low texture resolution walls because these are very light, and heavy focus on detailed objects at the bottom of the screen - areas that need tessellation-kind of detail, etc.

 

[dicktracy]

I would understand if this happened to Green camp.but red camp? who would steal it?!guess we will know when which camp has driver issues consistantly for months

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

 

[eidairaman1]

Variable Rate Shading focuses/redirects rendering performance in the areas of the scene that need it the most - for example little processing power for the sky or low texture resolution walls because these are very light, and heavy focus on detailed objects at the bottom of the screen - areas that need tessellation-kind of detail, etc.

Pretty much draw distance...

 

[mtcn77]

Pretty much draw distance...

Not exactly. Only needed to curb performance impact cause you only need full shading to preserve detail in far end scope when ray tracing. Ray tracing is good when few rays can make up for rasterization drawbacks. Tessellation was also underscored in this sampling theory area. You get better scans if the samples get compounded well.
One best case scenario is ray traced near versus rasterized far end. Rays are gpu scalable which is always good for business.

Variable Rate Shading focuses/redirects rendering performance in the areas of the scene that need it the most - for example little processing power for the sky or low texture resolution walls because these are very light,

That was what I was against. Walls aren't high res when you render more, it is about the sample distribution. It has to follow detail curve analogously which ray tracing does natively.
In rasterization, you render in a similar pattern, however, since weight is on reads it curbs performance. It has to have equal weights to r:w for optimal scalability. Ray tracing has that. Rasterized graphics have a low cutoff point. Think of it as 512x rays versus 512x aa sampling.

 

[moproblems99]

It's a felony charge i believe.

More than 1 likely.