PBS高端访谈:FBI未能及时就俄罗斯黑客向美国政府通报

Megan Thompson: An investigation¹ published today by the Associated Press reveals the FBI did not alert hundreds of American officials that Russian hackers² had targeted them and tried to break into their personal Gmail accounts in 2015. The same Kremlin connected hacking³ operation known as 'Fancy Bear' stole thousands of e-mails from the Democratic Party during last year's presidential campaign. To explain more about what the A.P. found, I'm joined via Skype by reporter Raphael Satter who is in London. First, can you just help us understand what is 'Fancy Bear' and who exactly are they targeting?

Raphael Satter: 'Fancy Bear' is the name that is commonly assigned to a group of hackers that's tied to the Kremlin and more specifically to Russian military intelligence. A couple of months ago, we got from a company called Secure Works, a list of about 19,000 malicious⁴ links that 'Fancy Bear' had been using over the past couple of years. We went through that list, crunched⁵ the data and we were able to identify about 4,700 unique people of which 500 or so are in the United States.

Megan Thompson: So then you began contacting these people?

Raphael Satter: It was extraordinary laborious⁶ work. We went about individually contacting all of these people and asked them basically some very simple questions – Were you aware that 'Fancy Bear' was targeting you? And number two, were you warned by anybody that this was happening, for example by the FBI? And overwhelmingly the answer to that last question was no.

Megan Thompson: And who are we talking about here? I understand some of these were government officials some with security clearance⁷?

Raphael Satter: That's right. I mean it ran the gamut⁸. We've spoken to all kinds of people – former Navy SEALs, people who are in NATO, ex-generals, former ambassadors, former policymakers. It's a lot of people who retired⁹ from the military or who retired from the State Department. But we've also spoken to some active duty soldiers and some of the people who haven't spoken to us include people who are still active in government work to this day.

Megan Thompson: So what did the FBI say when you asked them why they hadn't alerted people to the fact that these hackers were targeting them?

Raphael Satter: We didn't get very much on the record. The FBI gave us a statement which said that they make every effort to contact people who are affected¹⁰. And that didn't really match up with what we've seen on the ground where we saw that the overwhelming majority of the people just hadn't heard from the FBI.

Megan Thompson: If you know, what is 'Fancy Bear's' goal here with targeting these people?

Raphael Satter: They are targeting a lot of people who are NATO people, work in the military people, who work in the State Department, and people who work for military contractors¹¹. This suggests that they're very interested in people who work in the military and maybe in military technology. They might be interested in keeping an eye on what diplomats¹² are saying to each other privately¹³. Potentially, they could be gathering¹⁴ embarrassing information to publish as they did with the DCLeaks or potentially they're just doing classic intelligence gathering.

1 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。

2 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

3 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。

4 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

5 crunched   

v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄

参考例句：

• Our feet crunched on the frozen snow. 我们的脚嘎吱嘎吱地踩在冻雪上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He closed his jaws on the bones and crunched. 他咬紧骨头，使劲地嚼。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命

6 laborious   

adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅

参考例句：

• They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
• Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。

7 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

8 gamut   

n.全音阶，(一领域的)全部知识

参考例句：

• The exhibition runs the whole gamut of artistic styles.这次展览包括了所有艺术风格的作品。
• This poem runs the gamut of emotions from despair to joy.这首诗展现了从绝望到喜悦的感情历程。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

11 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

14 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。