After hacking Nvidia, hackers created a driver for the mining card

Hackers responsible for Nvidia’s data leak claim to have an exclusive driver that removes restrictions on the graphics card manufacturer that prevents them from being used for mining.

According to PC Mag, a group of hackers LAPSUS$ published a report in their public chat offering a special driver for sale, which allegedly can unlock the hashrate limiter on the GPU Nvidia RTX З000.

Hackers created a driver for the mining card

Hackers have offered to search the documentation and compile source code of the hashrate limiter.

LAPSUS$ hackers have also released a 19GB archive allegedly containing the source code for Nvidia GPU drivers, which they say “can be compiled by any well-thought-out developer.” The hackers threatened to leak a file containing confidential data about the company’s hardware and demanded that Nvidia take the software update for consumers and remove the hash limiter from their graphics cards.

During the hack last week, Nvidia encrypted the device used by LAPSUS$, but hackers say the attempt failed and “got all the data.” Following the incident, Nvidia said that “their business and commercial activities continue uninterrupted and that they are still working to assess the nature and extent of what happened, and at the moment they have no further information to share.”

Nvidia has introduced a hashrate limiter on its graphics cards, making it less suitable for crypto miners and limiting their use to PC gamers. This was due to a shortage of goods due to the active purchase of GPUs by those who wanted to mine digital currency.

Although BTC mining users have switched to more powerful ASIC miners, GPU mining is still cost-effective for Ethereum and other proof-of-work (PoW) mining.

In response, in February 2021, Nvidia introduced a special crypto mining processor (CMP). At the beginning of its sales, it exceeded expectations, but then sales volumes fell sharply, falling to $ 24 million in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In a statement, Nvidia reaffirmed its commitment to reducing GPU mining, saying “almost all NVIDIA Ampere GeForce desktop GPUs come in LHR (reduced hashrate) versions, which will allow players to enjoy GeForce graphics cards.”

Other GPU manufacturers, including AMD and Intel, have said they will not follow Nvidia’s example.