GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae announced on October 19 that, after investigating attack infrastructures for unauthorized access targeting Japanese companies, they confirmed the use of the autonomous security verification system "ARTEX." Of the companies identified as targets by GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae, eight have publicly disclosed data breaches between September and October.
ARTEX is a penetration testing system that uses AI to identify system vulnerabilities. While originally intended for security verification, it has been misused for attacks on companies. In a report on the 14th, the company stated that the remaining records strongly suggested AI-driven attacks, and this has now been corroborated by their investigation into the attack infrastructure.
The first attack infrastructure investigated primarily targeted Japan, as far as the company could observe, and had approximately 20 companies as its targets. Nine of these companies belonged to the same industry. Further investigation led to the discovery of six more AI-powered attack infrastructures, primarily targeting Japanese companies.
The company believes the attackers are narrowing down targets by country and industry, and preparing separate hosts for each attack. U.S.-based CrowdStrike also reported on October 7 that ARTEX was used in an attack on a South Korean financial institution, and GMO pointed out the possibility that similar tactics are being employed in Japan. To prevent further damage, the investigation findings have been shared with law enforcement agencies.
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