The developer of ARTEX, a Chinese-made artificial intelligence penetration-testing tool, said updates would stop and future versions would not be released publicly. ARTEX is the AI program reported to have been used in a string of hacking attacks targeting South Korean financial institutions.
According to AFP and Reuters, the ARTEX developer, who goes by Autumn-27, wrote in a post on the developer platform GitHub on the 8th that the tool had been misused. The developer said ARTEX would no longer be updated and would be converted to closed source in light of improper use of the tool, adding that further versions would not be made public and that maintenance support would no longer be provided.
The developer said using the tool for cyberattacks ran counter to its intended purpose, but did not directly mention the hacking incidents in South Korea. The developer also said no responsibility would be taken for acts that violate laws and regulations through the use of ARTEX.
Reuters reported that the ARTEX GitHub page has been taken down.
Experts said the shift to closed source could make it harder for new users to build the code.
A Chinese information and communications expert, however, told AFP that the decision would not remove copies that have already been downloaded or stop existing users from continuing to use the tool.
ARTEX is an autonomous penetration-testing program designed to link large language models so that AI agents can analyze targets, map out intrusion routes and run security tools. U.S. security firm CrowdStrike has assessed that ARTEX and large language models were used in attacks on South Korean financial institutions between late last month and early this month.
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