An anonymous hacker has broken into chipmaker Intel, publishing a link on social media to 20 GB data containing confidential intellectual property (IP) related to key chip engineering.

Many of the files in the 20 GB folder allegedly "have NOT been published ANYWHERE before and are classified as confidential, under NDA or Intel Restricted Secret."

According to a report in Tom's Hardware quoting Swiss IT consultant Till Kottmann, the password-protected zips in the folder may be accessed using either "Intel123" or "intel123" as the password, which may have been set by Intel itself.

The folder which is circulating wildly on social media has been billed as "Intel exconfidential Lake Platform Release ;)" and was originally posted on the mobile messaging platform Telegram.

Intel replied to the data breach, saying the company was investigating this situation.

Kottmann earlier posted on Twitter a link to a file-sharing service that contained the 20 GB Intel folder.

Some reports claimed that some of the leaked files are marked with NDA license agreements to "Centerm Information Co Ltd, a Chinese company established and existing under the laws of the People's Republic of China". According to Kottman, the files were obtained earlier this year.

The anonymous leaker said more files will be shared soon, and "the future parts of this leak will have even juicier and more classified stuff".

The report cautioned against downloading any file from the link as it may pose a hacking risk.

Intel's Resource and Design Center is dedicated to providing the company's partners with non-disclosure documentation (NDA) documentation for product integration purposes.

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