Earlier this week, a report came out claiming that the Xbox Series X source code had been stolen, and the individual is asking for a hefty $100 million in exchange for its return.
Website Torrentfreak noted that the individual stole Navi 10, Navi 21 and Arden devices, which is rumored to be the GPU of the Xbox Series X. AMD took action by issuing DMCA takedowns on the Github repository that apparently had the stolen code. Following, AMD issued this statement concerning the stolen property
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.
TorrentFreak was apparently contacted by this individual, who opened up a bit of how the files were obtained.
“In November 2019, I found AMD Navi GPU hardware source codes in a hacked computer,” the person explained. “The user didn’t take any effective action against the leak of the codes.”
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.”
She then went on to claim that Arden is indeed the GPU that Xbox Series X will be using, and that if no one pays up the source code would eventually make it’s way online.
That’s a big chunk of change to pay for something without guarantees, and AMD certainly isn’t going to pony up any of that. Of course, as AMD stated, the files could possibly pose no major security risk on the core design. We will just have to wait and see where this all goes.
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