Cases › security breach › LR-2026-0235
Storm-0940 uses ARTEX agentic AI framework to automate cross-tenant password spraying and OAuth application abuse
Severity major: The threat actor used the AI tool at machine speed to automate attacks targeting hundreds of organizations across the world, and ConnectWise shut down services.
Happened 2026-10-15 · Earliest source we hold 2026-10-22, 7 days later
Microsoft said a China state-aligned actor it calls Storm-0940 used ARTEX, a Go-based agentic AI penetration testing framework, to speed up scanning and reconnaissance, password spraying and OAuth application abuse at downstream victims of the ConnectWise Cloud Backup supply chain compromise. On October 15, 2026, the AI agents gained access to the identities of multiple ConnectWise cloud applications and began to use them to authenticate to customer environments. ConnectWise temporarily shut down services and is restoring them in phases.
Risk grouping: AI used to exploit
| Who caused it | A person or organisation “During the incident, Storm-0940 used ARTEX, a Go-based agentic AI penetration testing framework that was made closed-source in the wake of its abuse in cyber attacks targeting South Korean financial institutions, to speed up scanning and reconnaissance, password spraying, and OAuth application abuse at downstream victims.” source |
|---|---|
| Intended or not | Intended “The tech giant said the threat actor used the AI tool at "machine speed" to automate attacks targeting hundreds of organizations across the world spanning a broad range of sectors since September 2026.” source |
| Before or after release | After release “That changed on October 15, 2026, when the AI agents gained access to the identities of multiple ConnectWise cloud applications and began to use them to authenticate to customer environments.” source |
| The AI's part | Used as a tool “During the incident, Storm-0940 used ARTEX, a Go-based agentic AI penetration testing framework that was made closed-source in the wake of its abuse in cyber attacks targeting South Korean financial institutions, to speed up scanning and reconnaissance, password spraying, and OAuth application abuse at downstream victims.” source |
The story
1 · What it was doingARTEX, an agentic AI penetration-testing framework configured with DeepSeek and other models, was used by the China state-aligned actor Storm-0940 to automate reconnaissance, password spraying and OAuth application abuse against hundreds of organizations, including ConnectWise cloud applications and Microsoft 365 tenants.
2 · What went wrongThe AI agents used stolen identities of ConnectWise cloud applications to authenticate to customer environments and modified application credentials to establish persistence, crossing the boundary of the tenants they were not authorized to access.
3 · What it reached or didThe agents reached Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online tenants, Microsoft Graph and directory operations, and modified identities, groups and privileged roles in victim environments; more than 2,250 tenants were targeted.
4 · What was doneConnectWise temporarily shut down services following the attacks and is restoring them in phases over several days; Microsoft disclosed the campaign and attributed it to Storm-0940.
Show every field, with its source and grade
The AI system
Software around the model
ARTEX
C one secondary source states it
Tools it was given
network scanning, password spraying, OAuth application abuse, Microsoft Graph, directory operations
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
How much it acted alone
it acted alone, unwatched
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Stage of use
in live use
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
How it was connected
agentic with tools
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
What it was for
agentic AI penetration testing framework used to automate scanning, reconnaissance, password spraying and OAuth application abuse
C one secondary source states it
What happened
When it happened
2026-10-15
C one secondary source states it
Earliest source we hold
2026-10-22
A the date the source itself carries
Themes
supply chain, password spraying, OAuth abuse, nation state, Microsoft 365
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Who caused it
an outside attacker
C one secondary source states it
What went wrong
security breach
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
AI agent
an AI agent acted
C one secondary source states it
What it did
The AI agents used stolen ConnectWise cloud application credentials to authenticate to customer environments and modified application credentials to establish persistence.
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Impact
Severity
major
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Kind of harm
others' security, operations
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
Who was affected
more than 2,250 tenants targeted; 327 accounts across eight organizations in the October 10-14 password spray; hundreds of organizations across sectors since September 2026
C one secondary source states it
Why this severity
The threat actor used the AI tool at machine speed to automate attacks targeting hundreds of organizations across the world, and ConnectWise shut down services.
D inferred by us from the described behaviour, reason shown
LR-2026-0235 · version 4 · published 2026-10-25 after automatic checks; not yet checked field by field by a person · changes to this case · JSON