美国国家公共电台 NPR If Voting Machines Were Hacked, Would Anyone Know?

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Let's spend a moment on an overshadowed question about Russia and the U.S. election. For President Trump¹, the investigation² of Russian interference in last year's election is a quote, "witch hunt." For some lawmakers, though, the real question is whether Russian interference can be prevented in the future. Officials say they see no evidence that votes have been tampered³ with, but they can't be sure. Here's NPR's Pam Fessler.

PAM FESSLER, BYLINE⁴: Election officials assured voters repeatedly last year that there was no way foreign hackers⁶ could manipulate votes. Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler was typical.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TOM SCHEDLER: There is no state, in general - no state - voting in cyberspace⁷ on the Internet. So how do you hack⁵ something in cyberspace when it's not in cyberspace?

JEREMY EPSTEIN: Well, it's inaccurate⁸ on two levels.

FESSLER: Election cybersecurity expert Jeremy Epstein says many states do allow some online voting, usually for members of the military. But more importantly, even if most voting machines aren't connected to the Internet...

EPSTEIN: They are connected to something that's connected to something that's connected to the Internet.

FESSLER: And last week's release of a U.S. intelligence report on Russian hacking⁹ only reinforced his concerns. Russia apparently¹⁰ broke into an election software vendor's computer system and used that information to send 122 election officials fake emails infected with malicious¹¹ software. It's unclear if anyone took the bait, but University of Michigan computer scientist Alex Halderman says it's just the kind of phishing attacks someone would use if they wanted to manipulate votes.

ALEX HALDERMAN: That's because before every election, the voting machines have to be programmed with the design of the ballot¹², right? What are the races? Who are the candidates?

FESSLER: And that's done on a computer in a central election office or by a contractor¹³. The ballot program is then installed on individual voting machines using removable memory cards.

HALDERMAN: So as a remote attacker, I can target an election management system, one of these ballot programming computers. If I can infect it with malicious software, I can have that malicious software spread to the individual machines on the memory cards and then change votes on Election Day.

FESSLER: There's absolutely no evidence that happened last year, but Halderman notes that some or all electronic voting machines in 14 states have no paper ballot backups that can be checked to make sure there was no tampering¹⁴. State and local election officials insist such an attack would be extremely difficult, if not impossible because of tight security measures such as restrictions¹⁵ on who has access to voting machines. Still, Connecticut election director Peggy Reeves told a panel on voting technology earlier this week that many local election officials are ill-equipped to handle cybersecurity threats.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PEGGY REEVES: Many of our towns actually have no local IT support. Seriously, they don't have an IT director in their town. They might have a consultant¹⁶ that they call on if they have an issue. So they look to us, but we're a pretty small division.

FESSLER: She says the best protection against hackers is probably the fact that the nation's voting system is so decentralized. Larry Norden, an election technology expert with the Brennan Center, agrees, but he's worried that last year's intruders were laying the groundwork for more serious attacks in the future.

LARRY NORDEN: This is a real threat. It's not going away, and if anything, foreign adversaries¹⁷ - even people at home might be emboldened¹⁸ to do this more going forward. And to me, it is a real call that we have to do more as soon as possible, to secure these systems.

FESSLER: He would like all voting machines to have paper records and for all states to conduct routine audits¹⁹ to make sure that the electronic results match the paper ones. Pam Fessler, NPR News.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 tampered   

v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄

参考例句：

• The records of the meeting had been tampered with. 会议记录已被人擅自改动。 来自辞典例句
• The old man's will has been tampered with. 老人的遗嘱已被窜改。 来自辞典例句

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

6 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

7 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

8 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

9 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。

10 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

11 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

12 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

13 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

14 tampering   

v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄

参考例句：

• Two policemen were accused of tampering with the evidence. 有两名警察被控篡改证据。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• As Harry London had forecast, Brookside's D-day caught many meter-tampering offenders. 正如哈里·伦敦预见到的那样，布鲁克赛德的D日行动抓住了不少非法改装仪表的人。 来自辞典例句

15 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

16 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

17 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

18 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网