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  • Hitchhiker's Guide to Privacy Engineering
    • โ“What is HGPE?
      • โš–๏ธWho is this for?
      • ๐Ÿง™โ€โ™‚๏ธPrivacy Engineering
      • ๐ŸŽจCreative Privacy
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  • ๐Ÿง™โ€โ™‚๏ธThe Ethical AI Governance Playbook 2025 Edition
    • ๐Ÿค–Chapter 1 : AI Literacy
    • ๐ŸŒChapter 2 : AI Governance in the 21st Century
    • โŒ›Chapter 3 - Getting Started with AI Act Compliance
    • ๐Ÿš€Chapter 4 : Rise of AI Governance: Building Ethical & Compliant AI
    • Chapter 5 : Introduction to the Lifecycle of AI
  • ๐ŸŽ“Privacy Engineering Field Guide Season 1
    • โ“Decoding the Digital World: Exploring Everyday Technology
    • ๐Ÿ‘๏ธIntroduction: Why Privacy Matters?
      • Age of Mass Surveillance
      • Privacy & Democracy
      • Privacy & Government Surveillance
    • โšกChapter 1 : How Computers Work?
      • Electricity
      • Bits
      • Logic Gates
      • Central Processing Unit (CPU)
      • Graphic Processing Unit (GPU)
      • Motherboard
      • Data Storage
      • Databases
      • Operating System (OS)
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      • Programming Languages
      • The File System
      • Bugs and Errors
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    • ๐Ÿ›ฐ๏ธChapter 2 : How the internet works?
      • Physical Infrastructure
      • Network and Protocols
      • Switch
      • Routers
      • IP Address
      • Domain Name System (DNS)
      • Mac Address
      • TCP / IP
      • OSI Model
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      • Secure Socket Shell (SSH)
      • Transport Layer Security (TLS)
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    • ๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธChapter 3 : How Websites Work?
      • HTML
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      • Web Server
      • Browser
      • HTTP
      • Databases
      • Front End (Client Side)
      • Back End (Server Side)
      • Cookies
      • Local Storage
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      • IndexedDB
      • XHR Requests
      • Web APIs
      • Webhooks
      • Email Server
      • HTTPS
      • Web Application Firewall
      • Single Sign-on (SS0)
      • OAuth 2.0
      • Pixels
      • Canvas Fingerprinting
      • Email Tracking
      • Containers
      • CI/CD
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    • โš›๏ธChapter 4 : How Quantum Computers Work?
      • Quantum Properties
      • Quantum Bits (Qubits)
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      • Quantum Algorithms
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    • ๐Ÿ“ณChapter 5 : Mobile Apps and Privacy
      • Battery
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      • Wireless Connectivity
      • Camera & Microphone
      • Mobile Apps
      • Software Development Kits (SDKs)
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      • Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
  • ๐Ÿ•ต๏ธโ€โ™‚๏ธPrivacy Engineering Field Guide Season 2
    • โ“Introduction to Privacy Engineering for Non-Techs
      • ๐ŸŽญChapter 1 : Digital Identities
        • What is identity?
        • Authentication Flows
        • Authentication vs. Authorization
        • OAuth 2.0
        • OpenID Connect (OIDC)
        • Self Sovereign Identities
        • Decentralized Identifiers
        • eIDAS
      • ๐Ÿ‘๏ธโ€๐Ÿ—จ๏ธChapter 2 : De-Identification
        • Introduction to De-Identification?
        • Input / Output Privacy
        • De-identification Strategies
        • K-Anonymity
        • Differential Privacy
        • Privacy Threat Modeling
  • ๐Ÿ“–HGPE Story and Lore
    • ๐ŸชฆChapter 1 : The Prologue
    • โ˜„๏ธChapter 2 : Battle for Earth
    • ๐Ÿฆ Chapter 3 : A Nightmare To Remember
    • ๐Ÿง™โ€โ™‚๏ธChapter 4 : The Academy
    • ๐ŸŒƒChapter 5: The Approaching Darkness
    • โš”๏ธChapter 6 : The Invasion
    • ๐ŸฐChapter 7 : The Fall of the Academy
    • ๐Ÿ›ฉ๏ธChapter 8 : The Escape
    • ๐ŸชChapter 9 : The Moon Cave
    • ๐Ÿฆ‡Chapter 10: Queen of Darkness
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  • ๐Ÿ‘พHGPE Privacy Games and Challenges
    • ๐ŸŽฎData Privacy Day'23 / Privacy Treasure Hunt Game
    • ๐ŸงฉPrivacy Quest
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  • What is a GPU?
  • What is a GPU used for?
  • GPU and Privacy

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  1. Privacy Engineering Field Guide Season 1
  2. Chapter 1 : How Computers Work?

Graphic Processing Unit (GPU)

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Last updated 2 years ago

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What is a GPU?

A GPU is like a turbocharged , a powerhouse of processing that is specially designed for graphics and visual effects and is now being used for all sorts of complex computing such as AI.

A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a computer chip that performs rapid mathematical calculations, primarily for the purpose of rendering images.

GPUs use parallel processing to speed up their operations. They divide tasks into smaller parts and distribute them among multiple processor cores (up to hundreds of cores) running within the same GPU.

GPUs are similar in function to CPU: they contain cores, memory, and other components.

Instead of emphasizing context switching to manage multiple tasks, GPU acceleration emphasizes parallel data processing through a large number of cores.

Contemporary computers have between two and twelve cores, and GPUs might have a few hundred or even a few thousand cores.

What is a GPU used for?

Traditionally GPUs have been used in processing 3D content/data in gaming. Over time, they are being used for other activities like bitcoin mining or many machine-learning use cases.

Machine learning is a computationally demanding process as it necessitates the input of large volumes of data for analysis. Due to the highly resource-intensive nature of machine learning, GPUs are an essential component.

GPU and Privacy

Also, a new paper demonstrates how GPUs come with their own unique โ€œfingerprints". Where third parties can get track you in stealthy surveillance activities.

Researchers have now confirmed that there is a new high-accuracy method of identifying users, GPU fingerprints relying on WebGL 2.0 APU.

The GPU, although a powerful performance booster, also has many security vulnerabilities. Due to these, the GPU can act as a safe haven for stealthy malware and the weakest link as this claims.

exploits how todayโ€™s browser can expose plenty of minor details about your computer to a website, such as the software version, screen resolution, fonts, time zone, and IP address. Since not every computer has the same settings, the ad industry can take these details to fingerprint your PC and track your browser as it moves from one site to another.

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Fingerprinting
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