Chinese-linked hackers compromise ConnectWise, target hundreds in global attack, Microsoft says

Oct 21 : A Chinese-linked hacking group used an AI-driven penetration testing tool to compromise IT services firm ConnectWise as part of a campaign that targeted hundreds of organizations globally, Microsoft said on Wednesday.

ConnectWise did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Microsoft's conclusions, although a statement posted to the company's website on October 16 said it was "investigating recent attempts of unauthorized access associated with the ConnectWise Cloud Backup environment."

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Beijing regularly denies conducting or condoning cyber-enabled data theft.

The hackers, which Microsoft tracks as Storm-0940, used an open-source penetration testing framework called ARTEX to carry out the campaign, Microsoft said.

There are multiple tools used to conduct penetration testing, a form of legitimate testing of the security of networks or services. ARTEX allows users to use any AI model to automate a variety of penetration testing tasks and can be configured to run autonomous tasks including reconnaissance and data exfiltration, Microsoft said. 

The attack targeted organizations across a wide variety of sectors, including aerospace, defense, automotive, chemicals, energy, financial services, government, legal, manufacturing, media, military, semiconductor, software, technology, think tanks and nonprofits, Microsoft said.

While the majority of the targeting was not successful, Microsoft said, Storm-0940 achieved privileged cloud persistence — or high-level access that could continue even after cleanup efforts — at many organizations in a brief time.