AI-driven, large-scale nation-state campaign using ARTEX enables supply chain compromise | Microsoft Security Blog

--- Tags Supply chain attack Threats intelligence AI threats Supply chain attacks Content types Research As early as September 2026, Storm-0940, a China-state aligned actor, used the agentic AI penetration testing framework ARTEX to automate attacks targeting hundreds of organizations globally across a broad range of industries Several of these Storm-0940 ARTEX-driven attacks have resulted in the actor obtaining privileged access to an organization’s cloud infrastructure – including multiple instances where the time from initial targeting to privileged access was less than 3 hours Microsoft assesses that Storm-0940 was responsible for the recently disclosed ConnectWise supply chain compromise of a multi-tenant application

Details

This activity demonstrates how threat actors are integrating agentic AI into existing offensive security workflows and allows them to scale their operations exponentially Agents are not constrained by factors affecting humans – they can work around the clock, on weekends, and on holidays and attempt multiple breach paths simultaneously enabling significantly reduced time from selecting a target to achieving objectives, increasing the speed and impact of complex attacks like supply chain compromises

Context

Storm-0940’s use of ARTEX accelerated the speed of compromised application abuse to authenticate to Microsoft 365 customer environments through applications that had already been granted access This allowed the threat actor to operate without requiring an interactive user sign-in In multiple affected environments, Microsoft observed AI-accelerated follow-on activity through Microsoft Graph, including reconnaissance, application credential changes, and attempts to modify privileges that could enable expanded or persistent access

Impact

The activity conducted by the threat actor through the usage of ARTEX framework did not result from a compromise of or a vulnerability in Microsoft corporate systems, products, or services Although Microsoft identified Storm-0940-initiated authentication and follow-on activity in multiple customer environments, the presence of an affected application or successful threat actor authentication does not necessarily indicate that customer data was accessed or exfiltrated

What's Next

Microsoft Defender XDR provides detections and hunting queries for suspicious Microsoft Graph activity and activity associated with known threat infrastructure Customers should review service principal sign-ins, investigate unexpected application credential or privilege changes, and follow ConnectWise’s published containment guidance while preserving relevant evidence for investigation

Background

For a full list of detections please see the detections section What’s happening Storm-0940 is a China-state aligned actor with no known industry aliases that has been active since 2021 and targets organizations across multiple industries for data theft The actor has historically gained initial access using password spraying and exploitation of internet-facing applications, before using compromised accounts to move through targeted environments

Analysis

In cloud environments, the actor has also established persistence by adding credentials to existing OAuth applications, allowing continued access to Microsoft 365 resources The actor has used these applications to access and exfiltrate email and other data through Microsoft Graph As early as September 2026, Storm-0940 used the agentic AI penetration testing framework ARTEX to automate attacks targeting hundreds of organizations globally across a broad range of industries

More

These include aerospace and defense, automotive, chemicals, energy, financial services, government, legal, manufacturing, media, military, semiconductor, software, technology, and think tanks and non-profits During the ConnectWise supply chain compromise, Storm-0940 used ARTEX to accelerate scanning and reconnaissance, password spraying, and OAuth application abuse at downstream victims