Microsoft says Chinese hackers used AI tool in global ConnectWise attack
Microsoft says a Chinese state-aligned hacking group used an AI-driven penetration testing tool to compromise IT firm ConnectWise, targeting hundreds of organisations globally. The hackers achieved privileged cloud persistence at many firms before the attack was contained.
Microsoft said on Wednesday that a Chinese state-aligned hacking group used an AI-driven penetration testing tool to compromise IT services firm ConnectWise as part of a campaign that targeted hundreds of organisations globally.
Based on Microsoft's analysis and evidence available to ConnectWise, "it appears that a China state-aligned group was responsible for the attack on ConnectWise Cloud Backup," ConnectWise CEO Manny Rivelo said in a separate statement. Rivelo said ConnectWise "contained the affected application connections and are restoring services in controlled phases," adding that "those actions do not remove unauthorised access that may have already been established within individual customer tenants, which require separate review."
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 organisations across a variety of sectors, including aerospace, defence, automotive, chemicals, energy, financial services, government, legal, manufacturing, media, military, semiconductor, software, technology, think tanks and non-profit organisations, Microsoft said. While the majority of 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 organisations in a brief time.