Interest has grown in ARTEX, an AI penetration testing tool developed in China, after it was reported to have been used in cyberattacks targeting South Korean financial institutions.
ARTEX is an autonomous penetration testing system developed by Autumn-27. It is based on multi-agent technology built on large language models (LLMs).
It has been offered as open source, but after being used in cyberattacks, ARTEX developer Autumn-27 is moving the tool to private access.
The Hacker News reported on Oct. 8 that Autumn-27 said the attack was unrelated to the developer and that malicious use runs counter to the tool's original purpose.
“ARTEX was created to help companies and institutions check security risks within the scope of authorized assets,” the developer said. “From now on, we will stop all updates, new version releases and maintenance support.”
An analysis by global security firm CrowdStrike said hackers used ARTEX and large language models in the recent attacks targeting South Korea's financial sector. The attacks took place from late September to early October, and data was actually leaked.
The perpetrator has not yet been identified, but CrowdStrike views Chinese-speaking actors seeking money as suspects.
Chi-gyu Hwang
delight@d-today.co.kr