From TechCrunch · Zack Whittaker · · 1m 40s
Hundreds of Artex hacking tools exposed online
Security researchers found over 800 publicly accessible copies of a Chinese-made AI penetration testing tool, potentially enabling cyberattacks on unsuspecting targets.
In brief
Security researchers found over 800 publicly accessible copies of a Chinese-made AI penetration testing tool, potentially enabling cyberattacks on unsuspecting targets. Censys discovered more than eight hundred exposed deployments of Artex, a Chinese AI hacking tool, accessible without passwords and linked to…
Hundreds of Artex tools exposed
Cybersecurity firm Censys identified more than eight hundred distinct deployments of Artex accessible from the web without needing a password to log in.
What is Artex
Artex is a Chinese-made open source autonomous penetration testing tool that automatically probes computer systems for weaknesses. It was publicly released in July.
Why exposure is dangerous
The software does not require internet access to function. Hundreds of exposed systems increase the chance someone will find and misuse them for cyberattacks.
Korean finance attacks
Security companies linked Artex to cyberattacks against the Korean finance industry in September. CrowdStrike attributed them to a Chinese-speaking hacker who left an open directory hosting the system.
ConnectWise breach
Artex was used in an attack on IT support giant ConnectWise in October, allowing Chinese-linked hackers to spy on thousands of organizations whose data is hosted in Microsoft's cloud.
Simple vulnerabilities exploited
Many attacks linked to Artex involved exploiting weak or known passwords and lack of multi-factor authentication. The findings show simple misconfigurations can expose both attackers and targets.
Artex goes closed-source
Artex announced it would go closed-source, limiting further releases to paid customers. Dozens of copies of Artex's code remain available on code-sharing sites for active attacks.
The main idea
Censys discovered more than eight hundred exposed deployments of Artex, a Chinese AI hacking tool, accessible without passwords and linked to cyberattacks on Korean finance and ConnectWise.
