Chinese AI Tool Once Used Against S. Korean Financial Firms Hit Japanese Companies Too

Amid a recent series of cyberattacks against Japanese companies and organizations resulting in personal data leaks, investigation results show that some of these attacks utilized a Chinese-made artificial intelligence tool that had previously targeted South Korean financial institutions.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun and NHK on October 20, an analysis by an information security subsidiary of the Japanese IT firm GMO Internet Group revealed that "ARTEX," a Chinese AI penetration testing tool used to diagnose system vulnerabilities, was employed in cyberattacks against Japanese companies and organizations.

Following investigations commissioned by affected companies, the security firm identified six overseas public servers used in attacks targeting Japanese businesses between September 18 and October 18.

An analysis of these six servers revealed traces of ARTEX being used on all of them.

With no traces of other AI agents found, the company believes it is highly likely that ARTEX was used in the attacks.

Consequently, about 80 companies in Japan—including those in insurance, finance, and logistics—were targeted, with 8 of them actually suffering data leaks, the firm stated.

ARTEX is an autonomous penetration testing program designed to connect large language models (LLMs) so that an AI agent can analyze targets, plan intrusion paths, and execute security tools.

ARTEX was also reportedly used in attacks against South Korean financial institutions that took place from last month to this month.

The U.S. security firm CrowdStrike analyzed that attacks targeting South Korean financial institutions occurred between late last month and early this month, and that the attackers used ARTEX in combination with LLMs.
 
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※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.