纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英美英制裁中国黑客组织北京与西方网络冲突升级

The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on China’s elite hacking units on Monday, accusing Beijing’s top spy agency of a yearslong effort to place malware in America’s electrical grids, defense systems and other critical infrastructure, and of stealing the voting rolls for 40 million British citizens.

周一，美国和英国对中国的精英黑客部门实施制裁，指责北京的最高间谍机构数年来一直在美国的电网、国防系统和其他关键基础设施中植入恶意软件，并窃取了4000万英国公民的投票名册。

Taken together, the actions on both sides of the Atlantic underscored the escalation of cyberconflict between the Western allies and Beijing, in vastly different spheres.

大西洋两岸的同时行动凸显了西方盟国与北京在截然不同领域的网络冲突出现升级。

American intelligence agencies have warned that the malware found in U.S. infrastructure appeared to be intended for use if the United States were coming to the aid of Taiwan. The theory is that Americans would be too tied up worrying about their own supplies of electricity, food and water to help a distant island that Beijing claims as its own.

美国情报机构警告说，在美国基础设施中发现的恶意软件似乎是为了在美国援助台湾的情况下使用。其理念是，美国人会忙于担心自己的电力、食品和水的供应，无暇帮助一个被北京声称是其领土的遥远岛屿。

Separately, the Justice Department indicted individual Chinese hackers for what Attorney General Merrick B. Garland called a 14-year effort “to target and intimidate” Beijing’s critics around the world.

另外，司法部长梅里克·加兰称，一些中国黑客14年来一直在努力“针对和恐吓”世界各地对北京持批评态度的人，司法部对具体的个人提出了诉讼。

The motive behind the British intrusion was more mysterious. That attack involved stealing the voter registration data — mostly names and addresses — of tens of millions of people, as well an attempt to hack into the accounts of members of Parliament. Britain had revealed the voter hack long ago but never said who was responsible.

侵入英国背后的动机则要神秘一些。该攻击涉及窃取数千万人的选民登记数据——主要是姓名和地址，还试图侵入国会议员的账户。英国很久以前就披露了这起选民黑客事件，但从未说明谁应该对此负责。

On Monday, it announced sanctions against the same state-directed group involved in the American hack, a sharp rebuke that underlined the hardening of Britain’s stance toward China since British leaders heralded a “golden era” in relations between the countries nearly a decade ago.

周一，英国政府宣布对参与美国黑客攻击的同一个政府指使组织实施制裁，这一严厉谴责突显出，自近10年前英国领导人宣布中英关系进入“黄金时代”以来，英国对中国的立场趋于强硬。

The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, announced sanctions against two individuals and one company, which he said targeted Britain’s elections watchdog and lawmakers. The Foreign Office summoned China’s ambassador for a diplomatic dressing down. But there was no indication that the hackers made any effort to manipulate votes or change the registration data — raising the possibility that they were simply testing their ability to steal vast databases of information.

副首相奥利弗·道登宣布对两名个人和一家公司实施制裁，他说这些个人和公司针对的是英国的选举监督机构和议员。外交部召见了中国大使，进行了外交上的斥责。但没有迹象表明黑客试图操纵选票或更改注册数据——这让人怀疑他们只是在测试自己窃取大量信息数据库的能力。

“This is the latest in a clear pattern of hostile activity originating in China,” Mr. Dowden said in Parliament. “Part of our defense is calling out this behavior.”

“这是源自中国的敌对活动明显模式的最新一例，”道登在议会说。“我们的部分防御措施就是揭露这种行为。”

That alone is a shift: During the Obama administration, the United States was reluctant to identify China as the source of a hack on the Office of Personnel Management, which lost more than 22 million security-clearance files on American officials and contractors handling everything from nuclear operations to trade negotiations. And Britain, as it sought to increase trade with China after Brexit, was similarly reluctant.

仅这一点就足以体现变化之大：在奥巴马执政期间，美国不愿将中国认定为美国人事管理办公室遭到黑客攻击的源头，那次黑客攻击导致2200多万份有关美国官员和承包商的安全审查文件丢失，这些文件涉及从核运营到贸易谈判的方方面面。英国在脱欧后寻求增加与中国的贸易，也同样不情愿认定这一点。

But now the United States is increasingly public about the dangers. Cabinet secretaries and intelligence chiefs have begun to testify in public before Congress about an operation called Volt Typhoon, a threat that has preoccupied President Biden and his staff for more than a year, as they have sought to clean Chinese code out of critical systems.

但现在，美国日益将这些危险公之于众。内阁部长和情报部门负责人开始在国会就一个名为“伏特台风”的中国行动公开作证，这是拜登总统及其工作人员一年多来一直在关注的一项威胁，与此同时，他们还在努力清除关键系统中的中国代码。

And increasingly, the United States is coordinating with Britain, Canada, Australia and other allies to confront China’s hacking, fearing that the rising tempo of activity has received comparatively little attention while leaders have been consumed by the war in Ukraine and, for the last six months, the Israel-Hamas conflict.

此外，美国正在加强与英国、加拿大、澳大利亚和其他盟友的合作，对抗中国的黑客活动。美国担心，在各国领导人忙于乌克兰战争以及过去六个月来以色列与哈马斯的冲突之际，中国黑客活动的节奏越来越快，却相对较少受到关注。

Military and intelligence officials have said the Republican reluctance to provide new funds to Ukraine to repel Russia may encourage Chinese leaders to think that stoking isolationism in the United States will require little work.

军方和情报官员表示，共和党不愿为乌克兰提供新的资金以击退俄罗斯，这可能会促使中国领导人认为，可以不费吹灰之力在美国煽动起孤立主义。

On Monday, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, dismissed the British reports of Chinese hacking as “fake news.”

周一，中国外交部发言人林剑驳斥了英国关于中国黑客的报告，称其为“虚假信息”。

“When investigating and determining the character of cyberincidents, there must be adequate objective evidence,” Mr. Lin said, “not smearing other countries without a factual basis, not to mention politicizing cybersecurity issues.”

“在调查和定性网络事件时，应有充分客观证据，而不是在没有事实依据的情况下抹黑他国，更不能将网络安全问题政治化，”林剑说。

In announcing the sanctions, the Treasury Department described malicious state-sponsored cyberactors as “one of the greatest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security.”

在宣布制裁措施时，财政部称国家支持的恶意网络攻击者是“对美国国家安全最大、最持久的威胁之一”。

But curiously, Mr. Biden has never talked about the issue at any length in public — perhaps worried about causing panic or being accused of exploiting the threat in an election year. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security, the F.B.I. and the National Security Agency have turned out specific warnings to companies about what to look for in their systems.

但奇怪的是，拜登从未在公开场合详细谈论过这个问题——也许是担心引起恐慌，或者被指责在大选年利用这一威胁。相反，国土安全部、联邦调查局和国家安全局向企业发出了具体的警告，提醒它们在系统中需要注意哪些事项。

The sanctions were unveiled as the Justice Department announced charges against seven Chinese nationals accused of conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud.

美国司法部宣布对七名中国公民提出指控，称他们共谋进行计算机入侵和电信欺诈。

The hackers were part of a group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 31, or APT31, that has for the last 14 years targeted American companies, government and political officials, candidates and campaign personnel.

这些黑客属于一个名为“高级持续威胁31”的组织（简称APT31），在过去14年里，该组织一直以美国公司、政府和政治官员、候选人和竞选人员为目标。

“This case serves as a reminder of the ends to which the Chinese government is willing to go to target and intimidate its critics, including launching malicious cyberoperations aimed at threatening the national security of the United States and our allies,” Mr. Garland said in a statement.

加兰在声明中说：“这起案件提醒人们，中国政府不惜一切代价来打击和恐吓其批评者，包括发起旨在威胁美国及其盟友国家安全的恶意网络行动。”

According to the Justice Department, the hackers deployed more than 10,000 emails with hidden tracking links that could, if opened, compromise the electronic device of a recipient. Their operation targeted a Justice Department official, high-ranking White House officials and multiple U.S. senators.

据司法部称，黑客部署了1万多封带有隐藏跟踪链接的电子邮件，这些链接如果被打开，可能会破坏收件人的电子设备。他们的行动目标是一名司法部官员、白宫高级官员和多名美国参议员。

The Treasury Department added Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company to its sanctions list and described it as a “front company” for China’s ministry of state security, which ran the cyberespionage operation. The ministry has emerged as Beijing’s largest hacking operation, after a major investment by the Chinese government, according to American intelligence agencies.

美国财政部将武汉晓睿智科技有限公司列入制裁名单，并将其描述为负责网络间谍活动的中国国家安全部的“幌子公司”。据美国情报机构称，在中国政府投入巨资之后，国安部已成为北京最大的黑客行动机构。

The ministry — under the direct control of the Chinese leadership — is taking over for the People’s Liberation Army, which directed most of the espionage attacks on American companies, intended to steal corporate secrets or defense designs.

这个由中国领导层直接控制的部门正在接替中国人民解放军，后者曾经指挥了大多数针对美国公司的间谍攻击，目的是窃取公司机密或国防设计。

The sanctions on China come as the Biden administration has been trying to stabilize relations with Beijing, seeking areas of cooperation on combating the flow of fentanyl and fighting climate change. That effort began to bear fruit with Mr. Biden’s meeting with President Xi Jinping in California late last year, in which he warned Mr. Xi about the intrusions into American infrastructure. Chinese officials have denied they were involved.

在对中国实施制裁的同时，拜登政府一直在努力稳定与北京的关系，寻求在打击芬太尼走私和应对气候变化方面进行合作。去年年底在加利福尼亚州与习近平主席会晤时，拜登就美国基础设施遭到入侵一事向习近平主席发出警告。中国官员否认与此有关。

Why China would seek the names and addresses of British voters is a bit puzzling, especially since such information is readily available from data brokers. The Electoral Commission said the names and addresses of anyone registered to vote in Britain and Northern Ireland from 2014 to 2022 had been retrieved, as well as those of overseas voters.

为什么中国要获取英国选民的姓名和地址，则令人费解，尤其是这些信息很容易从数据中介那里获得。选举委员会表示，2014年至2022年期间在英国和北爱尔兰登记投票的所有人以及海外选民的姓名和地址都遭到读取。

The commission previously said that the data contained in the electoral registers was limited and noted that much of it was already in the public domain. However, it added that it was possible the data could be combined with other publicly available information, “such as that which individuals choose to share themselves, to infer patterns of behavior or to identify and profile individuals.”

选举委员会此前表示，选民登记册所载的数据是有限的，并指出其中大部分已经进入公共领域。然而，它还说，这些数据有可能与其他公开信息相结合，“比如个人选择分享的信息，以推断行为模式，或识别和分析个人。”

John Pullinger, the chair of the Electoral Commission, said the hacking incident would not affect how people registered, voted or participated in democratic processes. But he added in a statement that the announcement “demonstrates the international threats facing the U.K.’s democratic process and its institutions,” and that the commission remained “vigilant to the risks.”

选举委员会主席约翰·普林格表示，黑客事件不会影响人们登记、投票或参与民主进程的方式。但他在一份声明中补充说，这一宣布“表明了英国民主进程及其机构面临的国际威胁”，欧盟委员会仍“对风险保持警惕”。

In addition to the infiltration of the Electoral Commission, Mr. Dowden confirmed that the Chinese had tried unsuccessfully to hack email accounts belonging to several members of Parliament.

除了对选举委员会的渗透，道登还证实，中国人曾试图入侵几名议员的电子邮件账户，但没有成功。

Although he did not name the lawmakers, they are thought to include Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party; Tim Loughton, a former Conservative education minister; and Stewart McDonald, a member of the Scottish National Party — all of whom have a record of making hawkish statements about China.

虽然他没有透露议员的姓名，但据信他们包括前保守党党魁伊恩·邓肯·史密斯、前保守党教育部长蒂姆·劳顿，以及苏格兰民族党成员斯图尔特·麦克唐纳——他们都曾对中国发表过强硬言论。

Mr. Dowden said British officials had determined that it was “almost certain” that APT31 conducted reconnaissance against the lawmakers in 2021.

道登表示，英国官员已经确定，“几乎可以肯定”APT31在2021年对这些议员进行了侦察。

“The majority of those targeted were prominent in calling out the malign activity of China,” he added. “No parliamentary accounts were successfully compromised.”

“大多数被攻击的人都是谴责中国恶意活动的知名人士，”他还说。“没有议会账户被成功攻破。”

Mr. Duncan Smith said China should “immediately be labeled as a threat,” something that would go beyond the language used in a British foreign policy review, which last year said that Beijing “poses an epoch-defining and systemic challenge.”

邓肯·史密斯说，中国应该“立即被标记为威胁”，这将超越英国外交政策评估中使用的措辞。去年，一份英国外交政策评估称，北京“构成了划时代的系统性挑战”。