美国国家公共电台 NPR Tech Companies Take A Leading Role In Warning Of Foreign Cybe

 

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The U.S. government says it's on high alert for cyberattacks from Russia and other countries this election year, yet the most recent announcements of these attempts haven't come from the government. Private cybersecurity firms are sounding the alarm. These firms, in some cases, are selling their work to the U.S. Intelligence Community. NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre has our story.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE¹: Russia still gets most of the attention, but cybersecurity firms say they're also monitoring Iran's online shenanigans. Sandra Joyce is the head of global intelligence at FireEye.

SANDRA JOYCE: We've seen Iran doing this, where they have been impersonating political candidates.

MYRE: And there's more.

JOYCE: They've even fabricated letters that look like they're coming from concerned citizens. They get themselves published in newspapers, well-known newspapers. But they're influence operators from Iran. They're not concerned citizens from Texas.

MYRE: In many recent cases, cybersecurity companies and research groups are providing the details on these foreign actors and not the U.S. government. Graham Brookie runs a digital research lab at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

GRAHAM BROOKIE: The government doesn't have a monopoly on tracking, identifying, exposing some of these vulnerabilities because of the way that the threat is evolving. The threat's becoming more diffuse², more complex and, in some ways, more open.

MYRE: The U.S. government says it welcomes help from tech companies. Shelby Pierson works for the acting³ director of national intelligence. She's in charge of coordinating⁴ election security across the intelligence community.

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SHELBY PIERSON: There is a whole consortium of players in this landscape, which include private security firms. And those organizations will actually have deeper and technical insight into those networks before the intelligence community will.

MYRE: In an interview with NPR, Pierson said the government sometimes buys reports from cybersecurity companies. She cited a couple of the biggest players in the industry.

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PIERSON: FireEye and CrowdStrike - those two firms, for example, have done really good work where - based upon the analysis and expertise⁵ and information analysis that they do, those are products and services that they can sell to the U.S. government.

MYRE: The cyber firm Area 1 Security said it recently detected Russian military intelligence breaking into the computer systems of Burisma. That's the Ukrainian gas company where Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden used to be on the board. This raised suspicions that the Russians are looking for dirt on the Bidens. Area 1 has received a lot of media attention for this report, which is good for the company. However, the tight-lipped U.S. Intelligence Community hasn't offered its own assessment⁶. So does the government agree, disagree or just prefer to remain silent?

BROOKIE: Of course, these topics are news and newsworthy.

MYRE: Graham Brookie at the Atlantic Council says we're going to see a wide range of opinions on how much public attention a potential threat should receive.

BROOKIE: And we collectively, between government and media and tech, have not shown that we know what to do with that.

MYRE: Private cybersecurity firms say they often hire people who've worked previously⁷ in the national security sector⁸, and the companies also stress that they cultivate close relationships with the government. Karim Hijazi is the head of Prevailion. It's a cybersecurity company in Houston. The firm recently put out a report saying Iran is probing the computer systems at oil and gas companies.

KARIM HIJAZI: We definitely work in lockstep with law enforcement and the intelligence community. We want to make sure that we're not misstepping (ph).

MYRE: As all this plays out, many Americans say they're concerned about election security. A poll by NPR, the "PBS NewsHour" and Marist found 41% of those surveyed do not believe the U.S. is well-prepared to protect the November ballot⁹ from interference.

Greg Myre, NPR News, Washington.

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1 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。

2 diffuse   

v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的

参考例句：

• Direct light is better for reading than diffuse light.直射光比漫射光更有利于阅读。
• His talk was so diffuse that I missed his point.他的谈话漫无边际，我抓不住他的要点。

3 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

4 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

5 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

7 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

9 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。