Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of three cyber attacks targeting organizations in Japan in which artificial intelligence (AI) was a key element, either in the driving seat or to assist a human operator.

TrendAI, which analyzed three exposed server environments used by threat actors to conduct the malicious cyber operations, described them as distinct from previously published attacks that have leveraged ARTEX, an autonomous AI penetration testing framework, to single out entities in South Korea and Japan.

"These environments held reconnaissance and attack tools, scripts, target lists, results, logs, and command histories," security researchers Bakuei Matsukawa and Joseph C Chen said. "They ranged from workspaces used largely by hand by skilled operators to AI-agent platforms that automated the entire workflow, including command and control."

The first of the three attacks has been found to abuse CyberStrikeAI, another open-source penetration testing tool that was previously put to use in an attack campaign targeting Fortinet FortiGate appliances. The activity was concentrated in a short period in October 2026.

The AI-driven activity leverages the offensive security tool to automate various aspects of the attack lifecycle into a repeatable workflow, beginning with reconnaissance and vulnerability discovery and validation, and exploitation, to command-and-control (C2), persistence, data exfiltration, and automated reporting.

This involves delegating the work among 44 agents to handle various aspects of the attack, while also enabling the generation of forms and fake login pages in the Japanese language.

"In a short period, at least 19 identifiable organizations, including at least 16 in Japan, were subjected to validation activity," Trend Micro's enterprise security division said.

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