美国国家公共电台 NPR Facebook Shuts 652 Iran-Backed Accounts Linked In Global Disinformation Campaign

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

We're learning more today about ongoing¹ cyberattacks against political targets in the United States. We've been talking a lot about how Russia has been involved in disinformation campaigns, but now they're not the only state actor that has been accused by a major U.S. tech company of these types of efforts. Facebook said tonight that it has discovered and disrupted an Iranian disinformation campaign on its network. That is in addition to a new Russian disinformation campaign.

NPR political reporter Tim Mak is on this story, and he joins us now. Welcome.

TIM MAK, BYLINE²: Thank you.

CHANG: So can you just start us off by telling us, exactly what did Facebook discover tonight?

MAK: So Facebook says it has taken down a coordinated³ network of pages originating in Iran and targeting users in the Middle East, in Latin America, the U.K. and the United States. And so this campaign involves some 652 pages with close to a million Facebook followers⁴ and thousands of dollars of advertising⁵ buys.

So these Facebook and Instagram accounts - they did a number of things. They pretended to be an independent Iranian media organization while actually linking back to Iranian state media. In other parts of the network, they falsely posed as news and civil society organizations to spread political disinformation. And this campaign also involved more traditional kind of cyberattacks. This is like attempted hacking⁶ and efforts to spread what we call malware. The network of accounts also pushed narratives⁷ that include anti-Saudi, anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian themes as well as support for specific American policies favorable to Iran.

CHANG: So how did Facebook find out that these campaigns were even happening?

MAK: It's interesting. They were originally tipped off not by kind of their internal security processes but by FireEye, a third-party cybersecurity firm. And so Facebook launched an investigation⁸, and they revealed hundreds of these Iranian-linked accounts. Facebook has also been emphasizing its work with American law enforcement, and it shared the information about this disinformation campaign that it has discovered with the U.K. and American governments. Also because Iran is currently subject to some pretty strict sanctions, Facebook has briefed the Treasury⁹ and State Departments on what they found through the investigation that they announced this evening.

CHANG: Now, hasn't much of this kind of activity been connected to Russia usually?

MAK: Yeah, we've talked a lot about...

CHANG: Yes.

MAK: ...Russian disinformation.

CHANG: Over and over again.

MAK: And what it looks like now is that the Iranian campaign took a page out of Russia's playbook, that, you know - and we know that not - that Facebook tonight announced not just an Iranian campaign because that - I mean, that is what is new about...

CHANG: Right.

MAK: ...What we're learning today. But they also announced that it's - that Facebook has disrupted new Russian accounts. I mean, we talked three weeks ago when Facebook shut down more than 30 Russian accounts. It had a massive scope and following that seems similar to what Iranians have done in this case. Separately, Microsoft in a separate announcement - they said that they had shut down an attempted attack on conservative think tanks and the U.S. government by a Russian hacking group called Fancy Bear. So here's Senator Lindsey Graham at a cybersecurity hearing this afternoon.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LINDSEY GRAHAM: America is under cyberattack. We're beginning to act but not quick enough and not forcefully enough.

CHANG: Does it seem like there will be more cyberattacks going forward this year? I mean, are you getting any sense of that in your reporting?

MAK: Yeah. Senator Mark Warner said that there's a lot of tech companies lining¹⁰ up essentially¹¹ to disrupt some of these campaigns by state actors. We'll see that over and over again probably in the coming months as we approach the midterm elections. We're - what we're worried about is not only Russian cyber operations, not only Iranian cyber operations but possibly from North Korea and China as well.

CHANG: That's NPR's Tim Mak. Thank you.

MAK: Thanks a lot.

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 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。

3 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

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 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

8 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。

9 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

10 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。