2020年经济学人 网络安全(1)（在线收听）

Business

商业版块

Cyber-security

网络安全

The other virus threat

另一种病毒威胁

Japan Inc’s IT needs a security patch

日本公司的信息技术需要安全补丁

Japan has a reputation for technophilia. Robots have even been enlisted to cheer players at professional baseball games while covid-19 keeps fans away from stadiums. Yet when it comes to more humdrum information technology (IT), the country lags behind other advanced economies— nowhere more so than in cyber-security. Nearly 14m people were still using Windows 7 when Microsoft stopped providing security patches in January, including 7.5m at work.This, the American software giant warned, could make Japan “susceptible to cyber-attacks”.

日本在技术上享有盛名。新冠肺炎疫情期间，球迷们要远离体育场，而机器人们则被征召到职业棒球比赛中为球员加油。然而在信息技术（IT）方面，日本落后于其他发达经济体，在网络安全方面更是如此。日本有近1400万人仍在使用Windows 7，其中包括750万人使用这个系统进行办公，尽管今年1月，微软停止了提供安全补丁，这家美国软件巨头提醒道，这样的情况可能使日本“易受网络攻击”。

In January Mitsubishi Electric and NEC, two electronics giants, admitted to data breaches. Last month a virus infiltrated Honda’s internal servers and disrupted the carmaker’s factories in several countries. With more employees teleworking on unsecured devices and networks during the pandemic, cyber-security experts have noticed a spike in cyber-attacks since March.

今年1月，两大电子巨头三菱电机和日本电气公司承认数据泄露。上个月，一种病毒入侵了本田的内部服务器，扰乱了本田在几个国家的工厂。在疫情期间，越来越多的员工在不安全的设备和网络上进行远程办公，网络安全专家注意到，自3月份以来，网络攻击激增。

Businesses everywhere contend with cyber-criminals. On July 15th scammers hacked the Twitter accounts of public figures including Joe Biden and Elon Musk. Many big Japanese firms, including Mitsubishi, NEC and Honda, are bolstering their defences. But many small and medium- sized ones, which make up 99% of Japanese companies, have little or no security systems in place. Hackers can use such weak links in the supply chain to infiltrate larger corporate targets.

世界各地的企业都在与网络犯罪作斗争。7月15日，黑客们入侵了乔·拜登和埃隆·马斯克等公众人物的推特账户。包括三菱、日本电气公司、本田在内的许多日本大型公司正在加强防御。但是在日本，99%的企业是中小型企业，其中有许多企业几乎没有安全系统。黑客们可以利用供应链中的这些薄弱环节入侵到大型企业目标。