The tool 'improving the mining performance of NVIDIA GPUs' turned out to be malicious malware
To deal with problems such as soaring GPU prices and shortages due to increasing demand for cryptocurrency mining, NVIDIA sells GPUs for gamers with limited mining performance. It turned out that the unofficial tool ' Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker ' that was said to lift the mining performance limitation of NVIDIA's GPU for gamers was actually malicious malware.
Nvidia RTX LHR Unlocker Is Malware: From Hack to Hoax | Tom's Hardware
A fake Ethereum mining fix for Nvidia GPUs was actually malware --The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/24/22949480/nvidia-lhr-crypto-ethereum-mining-graphics-cards-tool-malware
GPU was originally a processor specialized in image processing of PCs, and the main customer base was gamers, but in recent years, due to the rapid increase in demand for virtual currency mining, high-spec GPUs for gamers have become available. There is a shortage. Market research firm Jon Peddie Research also announced that '25% of graphics boards shipped in the first quarter of 2021 (January-March) were purchased for crypto mining purposes.'
Prediction that 25% of GPUs sold from January to March 2021 were purchased for mining use-GIGAZINE
Therefore, in order to solve the problem of GPU shortage for gamers, NVIDIA released a model with limited mining performance in 2021. The model with limited mining performance is given an identifier called 'Lite Hash Rate (LHR)', and the hash rate indicating the mining speed of virtual currency is suppressed to about half of the conventional one.
NVIDIA Announces GeForce RTX 3080/3070/3060 Ti with Limited Mining Performance for Gamers-GIGAZINE
While NVIDIA's measures are increasing demand for GPUs on non-LHR models, there is also a move to find ways to remove LHR. Meanwhile, a GitHub user insisted that 'change the firmware of NVIDIA GPU to remove the hash rate limit' and announced that a tool called 'Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker' will be released on February 26, 2022. I did .
Although it is dangerous for users to change the BIOS of the GPU without permission, 'Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker' attracted the attention of the mining community from an early stage, and some users got an early access version even before the official release. Was there. However, users who actually got the Early Access version have said that malware was detected from 'Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker'.
PC expert Hassan Mujtaba pointed out that the 'Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker' never lifts the GPU hashrate limit and instead infects Windows powershell.exe with malware. Devices infected with the 'Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker' malware will have problems such as checking available system drives and abnormally high CPU usage.
Security-related media Tom's Hardware warns that while the Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker may not cause immediate serious damage, it may eventually spread harmful malware throughout the device.
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