Xbox Series X GPU code was stolen, now being held for $100 million ransom

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AMD says a criminal investigation is underway

Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Microsoft)

The Xbox Series X graphics source code has been reportedly stolen by a hacker and is being held for a $100 million ransom.

AMD published a blog post explaining that the theft occurred in December 2019 by someone claiming to have test files to "a subset of our current and future graphics products," and that some of them were even posted online to GitHub before being taken down. 

The statement continues, "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."

AMD noted that there is an ongoing criminal investigation into the matter. 

The stolen data was found in a hacked computer and includes source code for AMD's Navi and Arden GPUs, according to a report from TorrentFreak. The latter is reportedly used in the Xbox Series X. The hacker threatened to dump the rest of the code online if their demands aren't met.

AMD issued multiple DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown notices on Github, where the data was being held. The data breach is quite concerning despite AMD claiming the data isn't core to security. You can read the details of the DMCA request on GitHub.

Considering that AMD specs are in both the Xbox Series X and the PS5, it's possible that PlayStation might also be at risk. I imagine we'll know more sooner or later, depending how the issue is resolved.

Rami Tabari
Rami Tabari
Editor

Rami Tabari is an Editor for Laptop Mag. He reviews every shape and form of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by a hoarder's dream of laptops, and when he navigates his way out to civilization, you can catch him watching really bad anime or playing some kind of painfully difficult game. He’s the best at every game and he just doesn’t lose. That’s why you’ll occasionally catch his byline attached to the latest Souls-like challenge.