Iranian hackers claim to have broken into Israeli start-up Habana Labs

Intel acquired Habana Labs for a whopping $2 billion in December 2019.

DECEMBER 13, 2020 18:10

Hackers and cybersecurity (photo credit: REUTERS) — Hackers and cybersecurity

(photo credit: REUTERS)

Iranian hackers announced on Sunday that they have successfully hacked into the database of the Israeli company Habana Labs, an Israeli chip start-up that develops processors for artificial intelligence applications, Walla reported.

On Twitter, the hackers, part of the hacking group Pay2Key, shared screenshots of what they assert is the company's Domain Controller, source code and internal processes, illustrating that they have gained extensive access to the start-up's database.

New updates will be available on Pay2Key leak directory soon! pic.twitter.com/A7GkRIT4xz
— Pay2key (@pay2key) December 13, 2020

Intel, the American multinational corporation and technology company, acquired Habana Labs for a whopping $2 billion in December 2019, a couple of months after the start-up announced its new training chip, Gaudi, which achieved record performance based on industry standards to enable scaling to process very large AI models, according to Forbes. Habana Labs was Intel's second-largest buyout in Israel after its 2017 acquisition of Mobileye for $15.3 billion.

Because the start-up is Intel-owned, the hackers' claim about their access to the Domain Controller suggests that they may have been able to have gained access to Intel as well, according to Calcalist.

Pay2Key, the ransomware that the hackers used to access the database, has been used to blackmail other Israeli companies, some of which have decided to pay a ransom to the hackers. Calcalist reported that their aim seems to be to demand a ransom, or at the very least embarrass Intel.