UPDATE 3/27: There's growing evidence to suggest the hacker stole nothing of real value. WCCFTech spoke with several people who viewed the stolen AMD files the hacker has already and leaked. They say the looted information is far from actual source code that can be used to reverse-engineer AMD's graphics cards. The leaked files appear to only deal with isolated functions on the company's GPUs.

Nevertheless, the hacker told PCMag she's still taking up offers to sell the stolen files.

AMD told PCMag the hacker did try to exhort the company to keep the files secret. However, the chip maker refused to pay the ransom.

Original story:

AMD's graphics technology has been stolen and posted online. Though this intellectual property “is not core to the competitiveness or security” of the company’s graphics products, the chip maker says it's working with law enforcement to track down the suspect.

“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,” AMD said in a statement on Wednesday. Although the files have been taken down, AMD says the culprit may have stolen other information that could be leaked to the public.

The leaks are tied to files dumped on GitHub, a Microsoft-owned platform that hosts computer coding projects. This past weekend, a user on GitHub claimed to have uploaded the source code for AMD’s Arden GPU technology, which is slated to be used in the upcoming Xbox Series X video game console.

The same user also posted the alleged source code to AMD’s Navi 10 and Navi 21 architecture, which will be used in the company’s PC Radeon graphics cards. Whether the files are legit remains unknown. However, AMD filed two DMCA notices to force GitHub to remove the files for violating the chip maker's copyrights.

The culprit behind the leak spoke with TorrentFreak, and claims to have stolen the GPU source code from a computer she hacked. “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 told the publication.

In an email, the hacker also messaged PCMag and said: “I haven’t spoken about AMD about it (the breach) because I am pretty sure instead of accepting their mistake and moving on, they will try to sue me, so why not just leak it to everyone.”

AMD confirmed the files posted on GitHub are connected with the technology theft. The company's statement also notes that it's "not aware of the perpetrator possessing any other AMD IP."

Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from AMD.

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