PULSE NAME
AI-augmented threat actor accesses FortiGate devices at scale
WHITE AlienVault 2026-04-21 Modified: 2026-04-22
5
IOCs
LOW VOLUME
A Russian-speaking financially motivated threat actor leveraged multiple commercial generative AI services to compromise over 600 FortiGate devices across more than 55 countries between January and February 2026. The campaign exploited exposed management ports and weak credentials with single-factor authentication rather than software vulnerabilities. The actor used AI throughout all operational phases including tool development, attack planning, and reconnaissance automation, achieving scale previously requiring larger skilled teams. Post-exploitation activities included Active Directory compromise, credential harvesting, and targeting backup infrastructure consistent with pre-ransomware operations. Despite limited technical capabilities, the actor successfully extracted complete credential databases from multiple organizations, though they failed against hardened environments and moved to softer targets.
Indicators of Compromise (5)
All IPv4 CVE
TYPEINDICATORDESCRIPTIONCREATED
IPv4 185.196.11.225 2026-04-21
CVE CVE-2019-7192 2026-04-21
CVE CVE-2023-27532 2026-04-21
CVE CVE-2024-40711 2026-04-21
IPv4 212.11.64.250 2026-04-21