2023年经济学人 朝鲜黑客窃取17亿美元加密货币(1)

 

 

    North Korean hackers¹ stole a record $1.7bn of crypto last year朝鲜黑客去年窃取了17亿美元加密货币，创下纪录Few forms of celebration are as close to literally² burning money as fireworks and missile tests.

    很少有什么庆祝形式能像烟花和导弹试验那样接近于真的烧钱。

    And for North Korea, a great fan of both, the more it burns the better.

    对于两者都热衷的朝鲜来说，越烧钱越好。

    It launched more than 95 cruise and ballistic missiles in 2022, a new record.

    2022年，朝鲜发射了超过95枚巡航导弹和弹道导弹，创下新纪录。

    And it loves above all to splurge on the biggest, showiest rockets, like the intercontinental ballistic missile it fired eastwards³ into the sea on February 18th.

    朝鲜最喜欢把钱挥霍在最大最炫的火箭上，就像它在2月18日向东面的海里发射的洲际弹道导弹。

    Despite being unable to feed its people, North Korea has found innovative⁴ ways to fund its missiles programme, including by forging foreign currency, committing insurance fraud and making and selling arms and narcotics⁵.

    尽管无法养活人民，朝鲜还是找到了创新的方式来资助其导弹计划，包括伪造外汇、实施保险欺诈，以及制造销售武器和毒品。

    A more novel revenue stream is stolen cryptocurrency.

    一个更新颖的收入来源是被盗的加密货币。

    Last year its hackers pinched a record $1.7bn of the stuff, according to a report published this month by Chainalysis, a data firm based in New York.

    总部位于纽约的数据公司“据数字”本月发布的一份报告显示，去年朝鲜黑客窃取了创纪录的17亿美元。

    Some of North Korea’s hacking⁶ thefts were eye-wateringly big.

    朝鲜的一些黑客盗窃案规模大得令人咂舌。

    Last March it ripped off a cross-chain bridge, a method for moving cryptocurrency from one coin’s blockchain to another, associated with the game Axie Infinity⁷.

    去年3月，它窃取了一个跨链桥，这是一种将加密货币从一个硬币的区块链转移到另一个硬币的方法，与游戏《阿蟹》有关。

    At the time it was discovered, the stolen currency was worth more than $600m, making it the second-biggest crypto-theft ever.

    在被发现时，被盗的货币价值超过6亿美元，成为有史以来第二大加密盗窃案。

    But as with all heists, the robbery is just the first step.

    但和所有盗窃一样，这只是第一步。

    To launder⁸ their loot North Korean hackers employ all sorts of tricks, including splitting up the money, moving it between different crypto-wallets, converting it into different coins and putting it through mixers—large digital pools where crypto owners can deposit funds to obscure their origins.

    为了洗钱，朝鲜黑客使用了各种各样的技巧，包括分割资金，在不同的加密钱包之间转移，将其转换为不同的硬币，并将其放入大型数字池，加密所有者可以在其中存入资金，以掩盖其来源。

    Some of the stolen crypto was put to direct use.

    一些被盗的加密货币被直接使用。

    In 2022 two South Koreans, including an army captain, were arrested on suspicion of selling secrets to the North in return for bitcoin.

    2022年，包括一名陆军上尉在内的两名韩国人因涉嫌向朝鲜出售机密以换取比特币而被捕。

    But North Korean hackers mostly try to turn the loot into hard cash, either through a broker⁹ or more commonly through a centralised exchange.

    但朝鲜黑客大多试图通过经纪人或更常见的集中式交易所将赃物转换成现金。

    The fiat¹⁰ currency obtained is then used to purchase items through established procurement¹¹ channels, run through front companies and North Korea’s embassies abroad.

    然后，通过挂名公司和朝鲜驻外大使馆的既定采购渠道，将获得的法定货币用于购买物品。

1 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 eastwards   

adj.向东方（的），朝东（的）；n.向东的方向

参考例句：

• The current sets strongly eastwards.急流迅猛东去。
• The Changjiang River rolls on eastwards.长江滚滚向东流。

4 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

5 narcotics   

n.麻醉药( narcotic的名词复数 )；毒品；毒

参考例句：

• The use of narcotics by teenagers is a problem in many countries. 青少年服用麻醉药在许多国家中都是一个问题。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Police shook down the club, looking for narcotics. 警方彻底搜查了这个俱乐部，寻找麻醉品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

7 infinity   

n.无限，无穷，大量

参考例句：

• It is impossible to count up to infinity.不可能数到无穷大。
• Theoretically,a line can extend into infinity.从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。

8 launder   

v.洗涤；洗黑钱（把来路可疑的钱弄得似乎合法）

参考例句：

• She wore a freshly laundered and starched white shirt.她穿一件刚刚浆洗熨烫过的白色衬衣。
• The gang launders the steal money through their chain of restaurants.这帮匪徒通过他们的连锁饭店洗赃款。

9 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

10 fiat   

n.命令，法令，批准；vt.批准，颁布

参考例句：

• The opening of a market stall is governed by municipal fiat.开设市场摊位受市政法令管制。
• He has tried to impose solutions to the country's problems by fiat.他试图下令强行解决该国的问题。

11 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。