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AWS Says 600+ FortiGate Firewalls Hit in AI-Augmented Attack
A financially motivated Russian-speaking actor used AI tools to breach over 600 FortiGate firewalls in 55+ countries, exploiting weak credentials and exposed ports, AWS said.
- On Feb. 20, Amazon Web Services reported compromises of more than 600 FortiGate firewalls between Jan. 11 and Feb. 18 affecting internet-exposed devices globally.
- By scanning internet‑exposed FortiGate management interfaces, the financially motivated actor exploited weak single‑factor authentication, relying on opportunistic targeting rather than product vulnerabilities.
- Investigators found multiple commercial generative AI services were in use, including two different AI tools, with AI-assisted Python scripts and AI-generated planning artifacts on compromised hosts.
- Attackers stole configuration files containing administrator and VPN credentials, then moved into Active Directory environments and targeted backup systems including Veeam servers, raising downstream and ransomware risks to managed service providers.
- AWS warned organisations running FortiGate appliances to avoid exposing management interfaces, change default credentials, enforce MFA, and isolate backups, citing increasing AI‑augmented cybercrime.
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AWS Threat Intel Finds 600+ FortiGate Devices Hit
A financially motivated cybercriminal has used commercial generative AI tools to compromise more than 600 FortiGate devices across 55 countries — without exploiting specific software vulnerabilities. This “… campaign succeeded by exploiting exposed management ports and weak credentials with single-factor authentication, fundamental security gaps that AI helped an unsophisticated actor exploit at scale,” said CJ Moses, CISO of Amazon Integrated S…
A report by Amazon Threat Intelligence reveals that a Russian-speaking attacker used general AI services to hack over 600 FortiGate firewalls in 55 countries.
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