https://www.tomshardware.com/news/massive-20gb-intel-data-breach-floods-the-internet-mentions-backdoors
 
Intel on Thursday was hit by a massive data-breach, with someone on Twitter posting links to an archive that contains the dump of the breach - a 20-gigabyte treasure chest that includes - but not limited to - Intel Management Engine bringup guides, flashing tools, samples; source code of Consumer Electronics Firmware Development Kit (CEFDK); silicon and FSP source packages for various platforms; an assortment of development and debugging tools; Simics simulation for "Rocket Lake S" and other platforms; a wealth of roadmaps and other documents; shcematics, documents, tools, and firmware for "Tiger Lake," Intel Trace Hub + decoder files for various Intel ME versions; "Elkhart Lake" silicon reference and sample code; Bootguard SDK, "Snow Ridge" simulator; design schematics of various products; etc.

The most fascinating part of the leak is the person points to the possibility of Intel laying backdoors in its code and designs - a very tinfoil hat though likely possibility in the post-9/11 world. Intel in a comment to Tom's Hardware denied that its security apparatus had been compromised, and instead blamed someone with access to this information for downloading the data. "We are investigating this situation. The information appears to come from the Intel Resource and Design Center, which hosts information for use by our customers, partners and other external parties who have registered for access. 
 
I hope Intel solves this leak problem. 

Looks like that's the nail in the coffin to keep a lot of people away from their CPUs for the next little while.

Very sad...😞 damn.. intel just can’t catch a break.

Imagine if someone used the tools to create a microcode update which puts the CPU in a boot loop. Or issues an immediate ACPI shutdown command or something. Imagine if someone else finds a way to get that update onto a trusted server. I was thinking about that yesterday. Imagine one day when all of the sudden a majority of Intel computers are bricked. That would be devastating.
Of course it could happen to AMD as well, or instead. But these tools being leaked makes some scary ideas slightly more plausible.

Nereus
 
I'm having difficulty believing this is the "devastating data breach" the article claims, considering that "the information appears to come from the Intel Resource and Design Center, which hosts information for use by our customers, partners and other external parties who have registered for access." ..I don't think Intel would be making cutting edge secret tech available that easily lol. Sound more like media hype - as usual.  
       
 

I concur.  

Excuses after excuses😹😹. All Bad Empires crumbles no exceptions😾.

From what I understand the data was anything but “critical” or “crown jewels”.

It appears to be simply early release information provided to “partners” under an NDA. And it was intended that all of this information was to be made public at release of new architecture.... as Intel has done with every release cycle (chipset instructions, compiler options, sample code, etc...)

Much ado about nothing.

Edit: I just noticed previous comments saying exact same thing.

veganfanatic
I saw a report from Intel that it was not important trade secrets

Of course it's not important, because they just decided it wasn't. Doesn't matter if it was actually important, because Intel can apparently change their minds as long as it gives them better press. One needn't have an NDA to sign if something wasn't deemed important or trade secret.