Nvidia says her signs have no backdoors, in response to China’s concerns

Nvidia has published a post on its official blog to deny suspicions that its GPUs can contain backdoors, spyware or kill switches (remote deactivation methods). The text is a visible answer to the questions raised by China last week, with the return of H20 signs to the country.

“To mitigate the risk of misuse (GPUS), some politicians suggest creating requirements for ‘kill switches’ or integrated controls that may remotely disable GPUs without user knowledge or consent,” says Nvidia in her post. “Some suspect that they already exist. Nvidia GPUS do not have and should not have Kill switches or backdoors.”

The company argues that these mechanisms create vulnerabilities in hardware components, saying that current laws determine that companies should “correct vulnerabilities, not create them.”

“This principle is still valid. There is no something like a ‘good’ secret backdoor – only dangerous vulnerabilities that need to be eliminated,” the text says.

Nvidia uses “Lessons of History” to defend themselves

In the post A Nvidia cites the clipper chip, released in 1993 as an encryption chipset. Developed by NSA (US National Security Agency), the component had a backdoor for government authorities.

In the end, the chip was extremely vulnerable due to this system, aside the fact that the existence of the resource ended its credibility and interest in use.

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What draws attention to the inclusion of this example is that Nvidia’s blog post doesn’t just look like an answer to China, but also an argument to local authorities. In another passage the company says:

“Robust security is built at the principle of ‘in -depth defense’: stacking different protections so that no unique vulnerability can compromise or turn off a system. For decades this is how Nvidia and the US industry have promoted innovation while protecting users and grows the economy. This is not the time to distance itself from this winning formula.”