(*two*)The hackers behind the Nvidia hack have put a €1 million price tag on an alleged cryptomining throttling tool.
Among the terabyte of sensitive data stolen from the IT giant by LAPSUS€ was information that could help some Ethereum miners double their productivity.
Ethereum, the second largest blockchain network in the world, operates on the proof-of-work concept, just like Bitcoin. In simple terms, this means that in order to get the Ether coin, you must "mine", or have a computer that does some heavy crypto work. That's why next-generation GPU units, like the ones offered by Nvidia, sell like crazy because they offer the best return on investment.
No more Nvidia issues
To deter bitcoin miners from gobbling up the entire supply and allow other users a chance to buy one of the newer units, Nvidia was forced to cap the hash rate on their devices, essentially making it unusable. profitable for miners to pursue these GPUs.
Apparently the RTX 3000 GPU can only run at around 50% capacity for Ethereum mining.
Now LAPSUS€ says it has built a tool that can bypass Nvidia's Lite Hash Rate limiter without flashing or updating the firmware on the device.
“No blink = big bucks for any lesser developer,” the group said earlier this week.
However, there is more than one reason why anyone considering getting this tool should think twice. First, there is no guarantee that it will actually work, as LAPSUS€ has not provided a proof of concept or demo to show the tool in practice.
Second, it could very well be a scam or a way to distribute malware. This would not be the first time that people have claimed to have hacked the hash rate limiter, only to be exposed as frauds.
Third, the Ethereum network is phasing out proof-of-work and moving to proof-of-stake, which would completely eliminate the need for mining on endpoints, and thus the need for GPUs.
If it is difficult to determine the time of migration, the question arises of the profitability of buying the tool for 1 million dollars.
Via: PC Mag