Chinese developer makes ARTEX AI agent closed-source after Korean bank hack

The Chinese developer of ARTEX said ​they have converted the AI agent ​to a closed-source project after cybersecurity ‌firms ​identified it as a tool used in a recent cyberattack campaign against South Korean banks.

"Given the misuse of the tool, the ‌ARTEX project will no longer be updated and will be converted to closed source. No further versions will be released to the public nor will maintenance support be provided," the developer, who uses the GitHub ‌handle "Autumn-27", said on the code-hosting platform on Thursday. They said the original aim of ARTEX ‌was to help enterprises and organizations conduct security risk testing and improve their security capabilities.

Without explicitly addressing the South Korean bank attacks, they said they opposed any illegal use of the software and bore no responsibility for conduct that ⁠violates laws ​and regulations. ARTEX's Github ⁠page has been taken down, according to Reuters' checks. US cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike said on Wednesday the suspect behind recent cyberattacks ⁠at South Korean banks aimed at stealing customers' personal data was likely a China-based 26-year-old who used the ​ARTEX AI agent and Anthropic's Claude Code.

Released on GitHub this year, ARTEX is an open-source ⁠AI agent designed to automate penetration testing. It is not a standalone large language model but connects to external LLMs such ⁠as ​ChatGPT, Claude and DeepSeek to help organisations test for vulnerabilities in their networks. At least nine South Korean banks have disclosed or been reported by local media as targets of ⁠cyberattacks since late September, prompting police to launch a probe this week and President Lee Jae Myung ⁠to call for ⁠robust response measures.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular press briefing on Thursday that the ministry was not familiar with the case, ‌adding that China ‌consistently opposes and combats hacking activities.