Chinese Hackers Breach ConnectWise Cloud Backup Service Affecting Thousands of Organizations
State-aligned Chinese hackers have successfully breached the cloud backup service of IT management giant ConnectWise. By stealing application credentials used to link ConnectWise with corporate customers, attackers were able to impersonate authorized users to access Microsoft-hosted environments, including emails and sensitive files. Microsoft researchers reported that the attackers utilized AI agents—specifically the ARTEX open-source framework—to execute mass hacks at an unprecedented scale. The breach targeted approximately 2,250 organizations, with sign-in attempts reaching nearly 3,000 per minute, leaving defenders minimal time to react. ConnectWise has temporarily paused access to its cloud backup system while investigating the incident and working toward service restoration. This event highlights a growing trend of using AI-driven automation to accelerate large-scale cyberattacks against critical IT infrastructure.
Topics: AI agents cloud security cybersecurity data breach state-sponsored hacking