AMD suffers huge alleged data hack

Chipmaking company AMD  has allegedly suffered a massive data hack, which could include sensitive employee and customer data.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is currently working with law enforcement to investigate claims of a huge data breach. by hacking group IntelBroker. The first reports of the hack came through on X, later to be reported on by PC Mag.

🚨 #DataBreach 🚨

A potential data breach at AMD has been detected on a hacking forum: IntelBroker is selling the data.

According to the post, in June 2024, AMD suffered a data breach leading to the compromise of information such as future AMD products, spec sheets, employee… pic.twitter.com/P28SvFt1Eo

— HackManac (@H4ckManac) June 18, 2024

“We are aware of a cybercriminal organization claiming to be in possession of stolen AMD data,” the company told PCMag on Tuesday. “We are working closely with law enforcement officials and a third-party hosting partner to investigate the claim and the significance of the data.”

According to the original post on X, the data that could be at risk includes “information such as future AMD products, spec sheets, employee databases, customer databases, property files, ROMs, source code, firmware, and finances.” That’s quite a range of information that could be sensitive to people both inside and outside of the company.

How bad could this data hack be for AMD?

PC Gamer reports that IntelBroker has previously successfully targeted the EU’s law enforcement agency Europol and UK-based bank Barclays. As other sources on X are also making claims that they have AMD’s data for sale, it would seem that the group does have its hands on the confidential data.

However, some of the data appears to be out of date, with several employees visible on a screenshot of the stolen information marked as ‘inactive.’ If that’s true for all the data, it could be that the information obtained is no longer pertinent (although it could also be that the more sensitive information is being withheld from public view for now).

With the chipmaking business making up the backbone of the PC industry, information on upcoming technology and models could be very valuable in the right hands. It remains to be seen how far the data hack reaches and what kind of outcome is in store for AMD.

AMD is not alone in suffering these sorts of cybercrime attacks, with Dell and a wide range of other major tech companies also reporting similar breaches.

Featured image: Ideogram