Korean police investigate incident in which Chinese AI tool Artex was used to attack 7 financial institutions

South Korea's National Police Agency is investigating a cyberattack launched using Artex, an AI tool developed in China, with at least 7 South Korean financial institutions affected and personal data of 68,000 people leaked. Investigators said the attack was first discovered last week and bears the characteristics of Artex AI, a tool developed by Chinese security engineer Li Puhua (pseudonym Autumn) and released as open-source software, originally intended to help organizations identify their own network vulnerabilities. According to BleepingComputer, the Financial Services Commission held an emergency meeting and confirmed a data breach at Shinhan Bank involving 25,000 customers, credit card data of 119,000 customers at KB Kookmin Bank was leaked, and Hana Bank also suffered a limited leak after its sales support system was compromised. The attack originated from more than twenty IP addresses across about a dozen countries, including the United States, Japan, and Germany. Officials have not yet confirmed the attackers' identity and said they are seeking international cooperation. After the incident became public, Artex revised its terms of use to explicitly prohibit using it for unauthorized access, data theft, or other malicious purposes.