美国国家公共电台 NPR Political Campaigns Urged To Protect Themselves From Cyberatt

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

During the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton's campaign emails were hacked². So in 2020, campaigns are on the defense³ to prevent that kind of thing from happening again. Here's NPR technology correspondent Shannon Bond.

SHANNON BOND, BYLINE⁴: During Senator Angus King's reelection campaign in 2018, the suspicious emails were coming from inside the building.

LISA KAPLAN: We would send out these fake phishing emails and see who would click on them.

BOND: Lisa Kaplan was digital director for the Maine senator. The emails she sent looked real, but they were not.

KAPLAN: We would leave all of these little clues so that people should have picked up that it was not a real email. And we would try to get them to do things, like change their password for their email or change their password for the database we were using.

BOND: It was a strategy to keep staff on their toes so they wouldn't fall for emails from real hackers⁵ intent on damaging the campaign. That's the kind of paranoia⁶ that election campaigns need these days. Many of them are already in full swing, from the Democratic presidential primaries to congressional races to local contests for mayor and city council. Security experts and political veterans say they are vulnerable. Communication, which is the lifeblood of any political campaign, can also be the thing that sinks it if messages get hacked or manipulated. Email and social media accounts can be taken over, sensitive or embarrassing documents leaked. The campaign trail in particular presents unique challenges to digital security. Mark Risher works on account security at Google.

MARK RISHER: Campaigns are effectively startups, but their risk profile is more like established large businesses.

BOND: Campaigns are created from the ground up. People move in and out of jobs quickly and bring in new phones and laptops. Mary Dickinson is co-founder of US CyberDome, a nonprofit offering campaigns free cybersecurity services. She says this rapid, often chaotic⁷ growth creates openings for hackers.

MARY DICKINSON: You have almost every worst-case scenario⁸. You can't really do effective training because you've got people coming on board all the time. You've got bring your own device as the norm. You've got used devices that are not scrubbed being brought into the food chain here.

BOND: The most infamous⁹ hack¹ of a campaign happened in 2016. Russians broke into the Gmail account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta. Some of the emails that came out were embarrassing, like Clinton's speeches to Wall Street banks. The Russians got into Podesta's email through a phishing attack. That's when hackers send emails disguised to look like they're from someone you know or your bank. They try to trick you into handing over your passwords. Google's Risher explains.

RISHER: The reality is that phishing, which is effectively just deceiving the target, the victim, into passing over information, is very, very cheap to perpetrate. And the target only has to make a mistake once.

BOND: Nearly four years after the Clinton email hack, Risher says phishing attacks haven't changed much.

RISHER: They haven't evolved because they haven't needed to.

BOND: So what should campaigns do to get serious about security? First on the list is taking basic precautions.

MICHAEL KAISER: Turning on multifactor authentication¹⁰.

BOND: Michael Kaiser is president of Defending Digital Campaigns, another nonprofit that connects campaigns with free and discounted cybersecurity services and training.

KAISER: It's making sure that you're using, you know, better password practices like a password manager. It's using some form of encrypted communications.

BOND: And Kaiser says it's not just candidates and staff who should be tightening¹¹ up their online security.

KAISER: So you have a spouse¹² that could be vulnerable. You have children. You have the candidate's, you know, best friend who's also the finance chair.

BOND: Those people have access to private information. And if they get hacked, their accounts can be used to target the candidate. Experts say the focus in 2020 is not just on reducing risk but on planning how to respond if a cyberattack happens. Otherwise candidates will be battling adversaries¹³ not only at the ballot¹⁴ box but in their inboxes, too. Shannon Bond, NPR News, San Francisco.

(SOUNDBITE OF ATTUNE'S "THRILL")

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 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 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。

5 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

6 paranoia   

n.妄想狂，偏执狂；多疑症

参考例句：

• Her passion for cleanliness borders on paranoia.她的洁癖近乎偏执。
• The push for reform is also motivated by political paranoia.竞选的改革运动也受到政治偏执狂症的推动。

7 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

8 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

9 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。

10 authentication   

鉴定，认证

参考例句：

• Computer security technology includes mainly:Authentication,Encryption,Access Control,Auditing and so on.计算机网络安全技术主要有: 认证授权、数据加密、访问控制、安全审计等。

11 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

12 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

13 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

14 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。