美国与伊朗之间的网络战争（在线收听）

美国与伊朗之间的网络战争

LONDON— A newly published report indicates Iran and the United States have increased their cyberattacks on each other, even as their top diplomats are working toward an agreement to guarantee Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon and to free Iran from international sanctions. The development is part of a growing global trend.

The top U.S. and Iranian diplomats have been holding almost weekly meetings to try to finish the accord by their deadline at the end of March. But behind the scenes of collegiality, an active cyberwar is raging.

美伊高级外交官几乎每周都在会谈，希望完成最后期限在3月底的协议，但在和平相处的背后，一场网络战争正在积极进行。

According to a website called The Intercept, which draws on secret U.S. government documents made public by Edward Snowden. It published details of a U.S. National Security Agency paper written two years ago that calls for a more robust U.S. response to Iran’s improved cyber warfare abilities.

根据一个名叫Intercept的网站，该网站利用爱德华·斯诺登曝光的美国政府文件，网站公布了美国国安局两年前撰写的一份文件，该文件要求美国积极应对伊朗加强的网络战能力。

The report says Iran learned from a virus called Stuxnet that was inserted into its nuclear program, allegedly by U.S. and Israeli intelligence services in 2012.

该报告称伊朗了解到一个被嵌入其核项目的病毒，这个名叫Stuxnet的病毒是美国和以色列情报机构2012年借以攻击伊朗的。

Iran's capabilities

That incident may have shown Iranian leaders the value of cyberwar capabilities, as compared to expensive, controversial and highly deadly nuclear weapons, according to cyberwar expert David Stupples of City University London.

那次事件可能让伊朗领导人明白了与昂贵、有争议且非常致命的核武器相比，网络战能力有其自己的价值，伦敦城市学院网络战专家戴维·斯塔普斯如是说。

Iranians "have now realized they have a much stronger weapon at hand," he said. "If they pour resources into that, they can continually attack and continually get payoffs from their activities, quite cheaply."

伊朗“现在意识到他们手中拥有更强大的武器，如果他们在这方面投入资源，就能以低廉的成本继续发动袭击且从其活动中获得收益。”

A basic form of cyberattack is shown in a video produced by Stupples’ team from an actual incident.

斯塔普斯团队根据现实事件制作的视频显示了网络攻击的基本形态。

The website services each incoming requests, "and you see the answers going back. Where it goes to start being bright, it means the website is becoming quite heavily loaded," said Stupples. "So all the requests are coming in, but nothing is going back. Essentially, the website is completely closed down."

该网站对每个到来的请求提供服务，“你能看到会有答案反馈，当网站开始变亮时，这就说明网站负荷变得过大，所有的请求都来到，但没有答案得到反馈，基本上来说，这个网站已经关闭了。”

Such overload, or "denial of service" attacks, are irritating. But real problems come when cyberattacks steal or destroy data, as happened in the attack on Sony Pictures last year, allegedly by North Korea. Such attacks also could put people at risk by overheating power plants or taking services like highway signals or air traffic control off line.

这种超载，也就是“拒绝服务”的攻击很让人恼火。但真正的问题是网络攻击盗窃或毁掉数据，正如去年索尼影业遭遇的那样，据悉这是朝鲜所为。此类攻击通过让发电厂过热、让高速信号或空中交通管制终端的方式给人们带来风险。

Growing threat

A year ago, the new head of the U.S. National Security Agency, Admiral Mike Rogers, told Congress cyber warfare is here to stay.

一年前，美国国安局新局长罗杰斯上将告诉国会，网络战争还将继续。

"Clearly, cyber will be an element of almost any crisis we are going to see in the future," said Rogers. "It has been in the past. I believe we see it today in the Ukraine, we've seen it in Syria, Georgia. It increasingly is becoming a norm."

“很显然，网络将成为未来几乎任何危机的组成部分，过去已经发生过，我相信今天在乌克兰也能看到，我们在叙利亚和格鲁吉亚也见过，这个问题越发成为常态。”

There also is concern that terrorist groups could move into the cyber domain, said Rachel Briggs, an analyst with London’s Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

伦敦战略对话研究所的分析家雷切尔·布里格斯说，人们还担心恐怖组织会深入互联网领域。

“We know that extremists are trying to use technology in the same way that they use wires and batteries," Briggs said. "They have not ... as far as we know been successful. It will only be a matter of time."

“我们知道极端分子在企图像使用电线和电池那样地使用科技，就我们目前所知他们尚未成功，但这只是个时间问题。”

Cyberattacks are inexpensive, secret, deniable and, while frequent, are largely unknown to the public – potentially making them more attractive to terrorists and governments than conventional or nuclear weapons.

网络攻击成本低、形式隐秘、可以否认，且通常为公众所不知，与常规或核武器相比，这就使得网络攻击可能对恐怖分子和各国政府更具吸引力。