Security researchers have discovered hundreds of copies of a Chinese-made AI hacking tool publicly exposed to the internet for anyone to access, potentially allowing outsiders to launch cyberattacks against unsuspecting targets.
The hacking software, called Artex, is an open source autonomous penetration testing tool, meaning software that automatically probes computer systems for weaknesses, and it’s been linked to several cyberattacks since its public release in July. As open source software, it’s free for anyone to download and run on their own servers, making it a popular tool for those who cannot access Anthropic or OpenAI’s most advanced cybersecurity AI models for discovering security vulnerabilities. Microsoft has previously described Artex as a system of AI agents that can conduct cyberattacks “from reconnaissance through data exfiltration with little needed human interaction.”
Read more…
Source: TechCrunch
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- Spectre proof-of-concept shows how dangerous side-channel attacks against JavaScript engine can be
March 15, 2021
Google has released a proof of concept (PoC) code to demonstrate the practicality of Spectre side-channel attacks against a browser’s JavaScript engine to leak information from its memory. Google in 2018 detailed two variants of Spectre, one of which – dubbed variant 1 (CVE-2017-5753) – concerned Javascript exploitation against browsers. Spectre targeted the process in modern ...
- New Mirai Variant Targeting Network Security Devices
March 15, 2021
On Feb. 23, 2021, one of the IPs involved in the attack was updated to serve a Mirai variant leveraging CVE-2021-27561 and CVE-2021-27562, mere hours after vulnerability details were published. On March 3, 2021, the same samples were served from a third IP address, with the addition of an exploit leveraging CVE-2021-22502. Furthermore, on March ...
- COVID-19: Examining the threat landscape a year later
March 15, 2021
A year ago — everything changed. In an effort to stem the tide of a rapidly spreading pandemic, the world shut down. Shops were forced to shut their doors, and whole countries were placed on stringent lockdowns. Schools were closed around the world, with more than one billion children affected, and the vast majority of ...
- Critical Security Hole Can Knock Smart Meters Offline
March 12, 2021
Critical security vulnerabilities in Schneider Electric smart meters could allow an attacker a path to remote code execution (RCE), or to reboot the meter causing a denial-of-service (DoS) condition on the device. Schneider Electric’s PowerLogic ION/PM smart meter product line, like other smart meters, is used by consumers in their homes, but also by utility companies ...
- REvil Group Claims Slew of Ransomware Attacks
March 12, 2021
The REvil ransomware threat group is on a cyberattack tear, claiming over the past two weeks to have infected nine organizations across Africa, Europe, Mexico and the U.S. The organizations include two law firms, an insurance company, an architectural firm, a construction company and an agricultural co-op, all located in the U.S.; as well as two ...
- New ZHtrap botnet malware deploys honeypots to find more targets
March 12, 2021
A new botnet is hunting down and transforming infected routers, DVRs, and UPnP network devices into honeypots that help it find other targets to infect. The malware, dubbed ZHtrap by the 360 Netlab security researchers who spotted it, is loosely based on Mirai’s source code, and it comes with support for x86, ARM, MIPS, and other ...