NVIDIA speaks out on the recent threats by Hackers to release DLSS Code

Hackers have made the source code of the Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology online, according to a TechPowerUp reader. A screenshot of a directory listing full of files,…

By Nivedita Bangari

March 2, 2022

2 min read

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Hackers have made the source code of the Nvidia Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology online, according to a TechPowerUp reader. A screenshot of a directory listing full of files, including numerous appropriately labelled C++ code and resource files, backs up the assertions.

The Nvidia hack swag shown above is part of the hack swag supplied by the hackers. The files are presumably available to those willing to pay for them. The hacker outfit Lapsus$ appears to be only motivated by profit. However, it appeared that they were selling bypass software for Nvidia’s LHR (Lite Hash Rate) mining performance limitation yesterday. As a result, we were perplexed by the hackers’ threats to release an LHR killer and requested Nvidia remove the limiter. If Nvidia removed the limitation, Lapsus$ said it would return an undistributed “HW folder” of stolen data to the company.

In and of itself, a screenshot of a DLSS v2.2 source directory exposes nothing. It’s improbable that it may even give some hints about how DLSS operates. The DLSS Programming Guide PDF could be valuable to rival technology developers, but that implies it’s an internal Nvidia document rather than a standard guide sent to thousands of game developers worldwide. Finally, one must wonder who would be interested in the DLSS source code — AMD and Intel are unlikely to be interested.

Nvidia is stated as claiming in a recent statement obtained by HardwareLuxx, “Nvidia became aware of a cybersecurity incident affecting IT resources on February 23, 2022. We protected our network even more after detecting the issue, hired cybersecurity incident response professionals, and notified law enforcement shortly after.” Nvidia acknowledges that some “employee credentials and… confidential information” were taken but claims that no business disruption or customer service effect is expected.