A Hacker Stole AMD's Big Navi and Xbox Series X GPU 'Arden' Source Code and Wants $100 Million

Back in December 2019 AMD was informed that a hacker had accessed an unencrypted server and was able to download files related to their new 'Arden' GPU technology which will be used in Big Navi and the XBox Series X. Some of those files were leaked in GitHub repositories that since where taken down through a DMCA claim by AMD but apparently, there are still files floating around the internet on sites like 4Chan.

An official statement from AMD tells us that "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."

Although AMD is quite sure that this data breach won't affect them negatively, the hacker still thinks the files are worth $100 million, which is an absurd sum for code that's probably just low-level driver code. If it was, than that would mean people could figure out compatabilities with features like Vulkan or FreeSync or other driver functions, but as AMD stated it wouldn't affect their competitiveness. A devastating leak would have been one where this information was paired with hardware diagrams or other detrimental information about the underlying mechanics of their GPU architecture. As that is not the case though, this will remain as an awkward situation between the hacker and AMD.

Nonetheless, AMD is still "working closely with law enforcement officials and other experts as a part of an ongoing criminal investigation", as stated in their official statement.

Original article by:

Paul Alcorn on March 25, 2020