In just five weeks a financially motivated actor used generative AI tools to breach more than 600 FortiGate firewalls across dozens of countries. By exploiting exposed management ports and weak, single‑factor credentials, the campaign demonstrated how AI can turn basic misconfigurations into a massive attack surface without a single zero‑day exploit.
AI‑Driven Toolkit Enables Low‑Cost, High‑Scale Attacks
The attacker built a suite of Go and Python scripts that read like AI‑generated code—repetitive comments, naïve JSON parsing, and minimal human polishing. Despite the rough edges, the scripts automated credential stuffing, configuration harvesting, and network reconnaissance at a scale that would normally require a large red‑team.
How the Threat Actor Located Vulnerable Devices
First, the actor scanned the public internet for FortiGate management interfaces listening on ports 443, 8443, 10443, and 4443. When a device responded, brute‑force attempts using common passwords were launched. Successful logins gave the intruder access to configuration files, SSL‑VPN credentials, firewall policies, and even topology maps.
From Credential Harvesting to Automated Reconnaissance
Once data was collected, the AI‑augmented toolkit parsed the files, decrypted recoverable passwords, and fed the information into a custom reconnaissance engine. The engine ran open‑source scanners, identified SMB hosts, domain controllers, and fingerprinted vulnerable HTTP services, ultimately extracting credential dumps and backup archives that could be weaponized for ransomware extortion.
Why Traditional Defenses Fell Short
Most compromised firewalls were left exposed to the internet for remote administration, and many lacked multi‑factor authentication. Without strong credential hygiene, the AI‑assisted scripts could breeze through login attempts. The breach underscores that even basic hygiene lapses become high‑impact vulnerabilities when AI accelerates the attack workflow.
Exposed Management Interfaces and Weak Authentication
Leaving management ports open invites automated tools to probe them at scale. Enforcing MFA on all privileged accounts would have stopped the campaign in its tracks, because the attacker relied solely on password‑only access.
AI Amplifies Existing Playbooks, Not Zero‑Day Exploits
The malicious code didn’t invent new exploits; it simply sped up the attacker’s existing playbook. By hopping between multiple AI platforms for code snippets and prompt generation, the actor reduced development time and cost, turning a modest skill set into a threat that rivals well‑funded teams.
Immediate Actions You Can Take
- Close unnecessary public‑facing management ports – tunnel any required remote access through a VPN with MFA.
- Harden credentials – enforce strong, unique passwords, rotate them regularly, and enable multi‑factor authentication for all admin accounts.
- Detect tell‑tale signs – deploy logging and anomaly detection for unusual login attempts, configuration exports, and outbound reconnaissance traffic from firewall devices.
In short, the FortiGate breach is a wake‑up call: AI tools are now part of the attacker’s arsenal, and the fundamentals—patch management, credential hygiene, network segmentation, and vigilant detection—are more critical than ever. The real question isn’t whether AI will be used for attacks, but how quickly you can adapt your defenses to an AI‑augmented adversary.
