In short: Ever since Nvidia began transport Ampere graphics playing cards with programs to restrict cryptomining efficiency final yr, miners have been looking for methods round it. Final week’s cyber assault on the GPU maker might have offered simply what these customers have been trying to find.

Leaked Telegram messages this week indicate the South American hacker group which just lately attacked Nvidia has obtained the algorithm behind the corporate’s Gentle Hash Price (LHR) mining caps. Lapsus$ claims to be promoting a bypass, and is threatening to leak the algorithm if Nvidia doesn’t push a firmware replace to take away the LHR.

If Lapsus$ isn’t bluffing, this might result in an actual circumvention of LHR only a week after one other supposed unlocker was revealed to be a fraud laced with malware.

Over the weekend the group claimed to have stolen over a terabyte of Nvidia’s proprietary information and defended towards Nvidia’s counter-ransomware assault. The info contains particulars about GPU firmware, drivers, and schematics. Lapsus$ has posted a partial leak already. Nvidia hasn’t stated something formally since temporary statements it made to The Telegraph and Bloomberg final week.

On Friday, it admitted it was investigating an “incident,” and that its enterprise was uninterrupted. As a result of the assault coincided with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some feared there was a connection, however sources advised Bloomberg that isn’t the case. Lapsus$ additionally claims it isn’t state-sponsored and that its operations aren’t politically motivated.

In January, Lapsus$ attacked Portugal’s largest media conglomerate, Impresa, defacing its web sites with a ransom notice and gaining management of the corporate’s Twitter account. Impresa’s web sites and Web streams have been additionally taken down. The hacker group additionally hit Brazil’s well being ministry late final yr.