美国国家公共电台 NPR As Atlanta Seeks To Restore Services, Ransomware Attacks Are On The Rise

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The city of Atlanta is under siege. Many of its online systems were crippled by hackers¹ who were trying to extort² tens of thousands of dollars from the city. Cybersecurity experts are warning that the threat to public services may not be over. Here's NPR's Vanessa Romo.

VANESSA ROMO, BYLINE³: It's been nine days since Atlanta was attacked, and officials there aren't divulging⁴ exactly how they're dealing⁵ with the ransomware threat. What we do know are two things. One, the deadline to pay the $51,000 ransom⁶ was Wednesday. And, two, this is becoming an increasingly common problem for schools, hospitals, public utilities and law enforcement, which are all prone⁷ to having weak online security. Much to his dismay, Steve Giles knows a lot about this.

STEVE GILES: It was awful. Yeah. Everything was blocked, whether it was patient information, whether it was accounts payable⁸ information, everything was blocked.

ROMO: Giles is the chief information officer at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles. And one day in February 2016, he found himself having to decide whether to make a deal with hackers who had encrypted nearly all of the hospital's records.

GILES: They hit us twice. They first asked for 22 bitcoin. And at the time, it was, like, $9,000. And then then we paid it, they came back again, said they had sent us the wrong software so we had to pay another 18 bitcoin.

ROMO: That brought the total up to $17,000. And it still wasn't over.

GILES: By paying that, we got an excess of 900 decryption codes that had to be uniquely applied⁹ to all servers and PCs.

ROMO: But despite getting duped, Giles maintains it was the right call.

Can I ask why did you pay the second ransom? How did you know that they wouldn't come back with a third?

GILES: Well, I guessed it was a worthwhile bet.

ROMO: It's hard to argue with his logic¹⁰, especially when you look at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo¹¹, N.Y. Last year, hackers demanded $30,000. Authorities decided¹² not to pay. Their systems went down for six weeks, and it cost them $10 million to recover. Stephen Boyer of BitSight, a cybersecurity rating company, says despite their criminal behavior, hackers have an incentive¹³ to hold up their end of the bargain.

STEPHEN BOYER: Because if word gets out that they never decrypt a file, no one will ever pay and they'll never make money.

ROMO: They even set up customer support lines for their victims.

BOYER: If you want to pay and you have a problem, they'll help you make sure that you get transferred into bitcoin and that everything works properly.

ROMO: But meeting the hackers' demands is the opposite of the FBI's advice. The agency says ransomware extortion costs victims more than $2.4 million a year, and paying a ransom just makes matters worse and can inadvertently fund other illicit¹⁴ activities. That's what Matt Jensen believes, and why, as superintendent¹⁵ of Bigfork School in Montana, he and his colleagues refused to, quote, "give in to terrorists" after their computers were paralyzed in a 2016 strike.

MATT JENSEN: We just weren't going to entertain contacting the ransomware folks.

ROMO: It took more than a week to restore the data that had been wiped and cost about double what the hackers were asking. Still, he insists it was a blessing¹⁶ in disguise.

JENSEN: We remedied everything that we could afford to do.

ROMO: And because of that, their system was not compromised when they were attacked for a second time last fall. Vanessa Romo, NPR News.

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 extort   

v.勒索，敲诈，强要

参考例句：

• The blackmailer tried to extort a large sum of money from him.勒索者企图向他勒索一大笔钱。
• They absolutely must not harm the people or extort money from them.严格禁止坑害勒索群众。

3 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。

4 divulging   

v.吐露，泄露( divulge的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The soldier was shot for divulging the plans to the enemy. 这个士兵因向敌人泄密被击毙。 来自互联网
• Gives itself a small seat. Divulging heartily. 给自己一个小位子。尽情的宣泄。 来自互联网

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

7 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

8 payable   

adj.可付的，应付的，有利益的

参考例句：

• This check is payable on demand.这是一张见票即付的支票。
• No tax is payable on these earnings.这些收入不须交税。

9 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

10 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

11 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

14 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

15 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

16 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。