GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae, part of the GMO Internet Group and based in Shibuya, Tokyo, announced on its blog on the 19th that an investigation into an unauthorized access incident in Japan confirmed the use of “ARTEX,” AI software developed by Chinese engineers.
ARTEX is said to have been used in cyberattacks on South Korean financial institutions, and this appears to be the first time its use in an attack targeting Japan has come to light.
ARTEX Appears at the Scene of an Attack in Japan
The announcement came from GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae, a GMO Internet Group subsidiary. The Japanese cybersecurity company, based in Shibuya, Tokyo, said in a blog post that it had confirmed the use of ARTEX while investigating an unauthorized access incident in Japan. The investigation was conducted by Daiki Fukumori.
ARTEX is described as AI software developed by Chinese engineers. When people hear “AI,” many may think of familiar tools for writing text or generating images. But as with any tool, its purpose depends on who uses it. The significance of this announcement lies in the fact that this familiar truth was confirmed in the course of an investigation into an attack in Japan.
Software Said to Have Been Used Against a South Korean Financial Institution Turns Up in Japan
ARTEX is software said to have been used in cyberattacks on South Korean financial institutions. The same-named software has now also been identified in an incident targeting Japan, suggesting that tools used in attacks are spreading across borders without regard for national boundaries.
At the same time, the announcement does not indicate whether the incidents in South Korea and Japan were carried out by the same attackers or how much their methods overlapped. It is important to draw that distinction: what the incidents have in common is the use of the same software.
Look Beyond the AI Label to the Details of the Investigation
The headline “AI used in an attack” inevitably leaves a strong impression. But when the word “AI” takes center stage, important details—such as which software was used and in what incident—can become blurred. The value of this announcement lies in its specificity: a particular software program was identified during an investigation into unauthorized access in Japan.
There is also considerable value in a cybersecurity company identifying software from traces of an attack and making that information public. Knowing the software’s name can help other companies in the industry and corporate IT administrators reassess what they should be on guard against. For Japanese companies, this could be an opportunity to review their own defenses rather than dismissing overseas incidents as someone else’s problem.
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