Tens of millions of automated attacks have been detected on web services run by public agencies and private companies, not just financial firms, following reports that an artificial intelligence tool called ARTEX was used in a recent hacking attack on South Korea's financial sector.
Eversafe, an AI cybersecurity company, said on the 20th that 210,784 threat internet protocol (IP) addresses were detected at seven client organizations in the financial, public and private sectors using its web security solution, Eversafe for Web, between Sept. 1 and Oct. 17. Attack attempts identified at those clients over the same period reached 62.04 million.
The company said the threat IPs it detected amount to 7,800 times the number of threat IPs disclosed publicly in connection with the financial sector hacking. The figures cover only three financial firms, two public agencies and two private companies whose detection analysis has been completed. The total is expected to rise sharply once all of the company's roughly 100 clients are analyzed.
Eversafe said automated attacks that rotate through different IP addresses are difficult to counter by relying solely on belatedly blocking lists of known addresses. Blocking IPs must be paired with real-time blocking of the automated requests themselves, the company said.
Eversafe for Web applies moving target defense (MTD) technology, which continuously shifts the target to make attacks harder to execute. It also alters a web page's security code, request addresses (URLs) and data. The solution distinguishes whether a request comes from a human or an automated program, allowing it to detect attacks from IP addresses that are not on threat lists.
The company said it has shared data with relevant authorities that could help identify the devices of suspected attackers, based on its analysis of the threat IPs detected.
"This attack on the financial sector is not a newly emerged threat but a type of automated attack that Eversafe for Web has steadily countered and strengthened its defenses against through MTD technology," said Ha Young-bin, chief executive of Eversafe. "What deserves attention is that large-scale attacks were detected not only at financial firms but also at public agencies and private companies."