China-made AI tool behind cyberattacks in Japan, GMO says

A Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) cybersecurity tool called ARTEX was used in a spate of recent hacks of Japanese companies, the subsidiary of a major Tokyo-based Internet company yesterday.

Dozens of Japanese companies, from restaurant chains to a car hire operator, have disclosed unauthorized access or data breaches in the past weeks — potentially impacting millions of customers.

The information security arm of GMO Internet Group said it had “confirmed ARTEX was used” having investigated the attacks in collaboration with external organizations.

A man holds a laptop computer as cybercode is projected on him on May 13, 2017.

Photo: Reuters

“It also became clear ... the attacks were almost exclusively targeting Japan,” GMO cybersecurity center director Daiki Fukumori wrote on the company blog.

AI’s ability to find previously unknown ways to hack into computer systems is in the global spotlight, as leading labs release ever-more advanced models.

ARTEX was designed to help organizations enhance their cyberdefenses through AI-powered security testing to find potential weak points, its developer has said.

The Chinese tool this month stopped programmers from accessing its source code, acknowledging misuse by “bad actors” after South Korea linked it to several hacks on financial institutions.

Using ARTEX for cyberattacks was “entirely contrary to” the developer’s intentions, a statement said, adding that the project would no longer be updated.

Fukumori said the GMO subsidiary had discovered six Internet servers launching AI-powered attacks.

Each server was broadly categorized by the industries such as finance, e-commerce and logistics, he added — without giving details of where the servers were located, or who might have been operating them.

“To prevent further damage, we have shared this information with law enforcement agencies,” his GMO blog post said.

The Japanese government has called on companies to enhance their cyberdefenses.

This month, the head of the ruling party’s cybersecurity committee said a “state of emergency” had been reached over emerging threats.