RIVERSIDE – (INT) - Computer scientists at UC Riverside have revealed for the first time how easily attackers can use a computer’s graphics processing unit, or GPU, to spy on web activity, steal passwords, and break into cloud-based applications.

They reverse-engineered a Nvidia GPU to demonstrate three attacks on both graphics and computational stacks, as well as across them. The group believes these are the first reported general side channel attacks on GPUs.

All three attacks require the victim to first acquire a malicious program embedded in a downloaded app. The program is designed to spy on the victim’s computer.

Story Date: November 18, 2018