美国国家公共电台 NPR--How a nonprofit group has become the biggest repository for hacked Russian data

How a nonprofit group has become the biggest repository for hacked² Russian data

Transcript³

The war in Ukraine inspired hackers⁴ to steal reams of sensitive data from inside Russia. A transparency group wants to publicize that information without actively⁵ participating in the conflict.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

The war in Ukraine has inspired a global community of hackers to steal reams of sensitive data from deep inside Russia. Others are committed to getting that information out into the world. NPR cybersecurity correspondent Jenna McLaughlin spoke⁶ with members of a nonprofit that, since the start of the war, has become the biggest repository for hacked Russian data. And she asked about their place in the conflict and the future of journalism⁷.

JENNA MCLAUGHLIN, BYLINE⁸: On February 24, hackers around the world were ready to jump into action.

FREDDY MARTINEZ: Right after the invasion of Ukraine, there was a sort of online call for people to, in essence, hack¹ or leak data around Russian targets.

MCLAUGHLIN: Freddy Martinez is an adviser⁹ to a group called Distributed Denial of Secrets. The name is a pun on a type of cyberattack where a victim is flooded with information. But in this case, the group, a transparency nonprofit, is the recipient¹⁰ of a tidal wave of hacked data - most of it, these days, from Russia.

F MARTINEZ: We've seen things like information about oligarchs hiding their money overseas or in superyachts or things like that.

MCLAUGHLIN: The group isn't the first to dedicate themselves to publishing leaked and stolen information. The name WikiLeaks might ring a bell. But Distributed Denial of Secrets, or DDoS, is a favorite for hackers because they use a peer-to-peer file-sharing method, like LimeWire or Pirate Bay. So the data isn't just stored in one place, and it's harder to delete. Now the group faces an historic moment - the war in Ukraine - and they're trying to figure out what role they should play.

F MARTINEZ: You know, there was some very spirited discussions about, do we even know the genesis of the data and whether or not we're supporting one side of a conflict or another?

MCLAUGHLIN: It's not like anyone in the group supported the war, but when it began, not everyone agreed they should publish the data they were receiving about Russian companies or government agencies. They were scared they might somehow get fooled with fake or misleading information, or end up as unwitting puppets in a geopolitical struggle.

EMMA BEST: We didn't want to be 2016-ed (ph).

MCLAUGHLIN: That's Emma Best, the co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets. She means that the group didn't want to become tools in a major influence operation like the one Russia executed during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

BEST: We could always be wronged. We could always be tricked.

MCLAUGHLIN: Best knows the collective will get linked to WikiLeaks. But she says DDoS has tried to learn from how she believes WikiLeaks was compromised in 2016, when the group published Democratic emails but declined to publish potentially damaging information stolen from the Russian Interior Ministry¹¹. Right now, WikiLeaks isn't accepting new submissions¹². Julian Assange, its infamous¹³ leader, faces extradition¹⁴ to the U.S. from Britain. Groups like DDoS are now the future of this space.

BEST: Certainly we have tried to, you know, learn from WikiLeaks' mistakes. But DDoS' M.O. and WikiLeaks' M.O. have always been fairly different.

MCLAUGHLIN: Best says DDoS is very careful about what they publish. They don't release everything they get, and it has to be in the public interest. They often work with local journalists and researchers on specific datasets. As for Russia-related leaks, they have started putting a disclaimer on everything they release during the war, urging readers to take extra care and consider the context. While the collective has often been accused of hacking¹⁵, they insist they never cross that line.

BEST: We are a journalist organization. We do not engage in offensive hacking or hacktivism.

MCLAUGHLIN: As for the impact, that's an open question.

STEFAN SOESANTO: And so there might be some documents that might be really interesting, but they're under this huge pile of garbage.

MCLAUGHLIN: Stefan Soesanto is a cyberdefense researcher based in Zurich, Switzerland. He doesn't think the data releases have tactical value to Ukrainians on the ground because it's been too challenging to dig through the dumps. Then again, it's a bit embarrassing for the Kremlin. Russia considers itself a major cyber power, but it hasn't been able to keep its data safe from hackers.

SOESANTO: Look what happens to the private sector¹⁶. Look what happens to your local government. Look what happens to your courts.

MCLAUGHLIN: Basically, all targets of hacktivists.

SOESANTO: Look what happens to all the infrastructure¹⁷ that you have in the digital space and how much data is now out there.

MCLAUGHLIN: It may not be the key to winning a shooting war, but that doesn't mean it's not important.

GABRIELLA COLEMAN: I think history teaches us that these sorts of leaks can have consequences in the near future that are consequential¹⁸ and very hard to predict.

MCLAUGHLIN: That's Gabriella Coleman. She's a professor of anthropology¹⁹ at Harvard who studies the history and culture of hackers. She gave one example of this kind of unpredictable impact that predates cyberspace²⁰.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

WALTER CRONKITE: Last month, burglars hit an FBI resident office and took files which, subsequently, have been made public.

MCLAUGHLIN: That CBS' Walter Cronkite. The news was unprecedented²¹ - a sweeping²² counterintelligence program on U.S. citizens. In 1971, an activist²³ group broke into an FBI field office. They stole a bunch of papers, revealing a massive illegal domestic surveillance program that took journalists years to investigate.

COLEMAN: So I think similarly, in this case, we don't know what's going to emerge, right? But I think something will, as well.

MCLAUGHLIN: Everyone expected cyberattacks to be a huge part of the war in Ukraine. But the digital conflict has been a lot more subtle compared to bombs and tanks. Experts say we'll be studying its impact for a long time. As for DDoS and hacktivism, data leaks are bound to be a major part of the future of warfare²⁴ and journalism.

COLEMAN: Oh, absolutely. This model is here to stay.

MCLAUGHLIN: Again, Gabriella Coleman.

COLEMAN: And it's here to stay because we live in a society where there's so much digital information, and that's not going to go away.

MCLAUGHLIN: DDoS is a small collective - just around a dozen people - but they're committed to making an impact in the long term. When it comes to Russian war crimes, international courts might just look to evidence buried in troves of stolen data published by groups like DDoS. But first, it will require some serious digging from journalists and researchers all around the world.

Jenna McLaughlin, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SYNTHETIC EPIPHANY'S "BIPOLAR")

1 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

2 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 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

5 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

8 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。

9 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

10 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 submissions   

n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据

参考例句：

• The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
• Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第（四）款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

13 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

14 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。

15 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。

16 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。

17 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

18 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

19 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

20 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

21 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

22 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

23 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

24 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。