Default passwords on devices from the digital video recorder in your living room to the security camera in your office threaten the stability of the internet, as hackers¹ build vast networks of Internet of Things devices to bombard websites with traffic.

从你客厅里的数字录像机到你办公室里的安全摄像头，各种设备上的默认密码威胁着互联网的稳定，因为黑客得以建立起庞大的物联网设备网络，用流量来攻击网站。

The attack on Dyn, a domain² name service provider, that disrupted access to high profile sites such as Twitter, Spotify and the New York Times on Friday, highlighted the risks posed by the billions of devices connected to the internet with little or no cyber security protections.

上周五，对域名服务提供商Dyn的攻击使对Twitter、Spotify和《纽约时报》(New York Times)等热门网站的访问中断，凸显出数十亿只有很少或者没有网络安全保护的联网设备带来的风险。

Unidentified hackers took over tens of millions of devices using malicious⁴ software called Mirai, making the attack much more powerful and harder to defend against than the average distributed denial of service attack.

身份不明的黑客用叫做Mirai的恶意软件控制了数千万台设备，使这种攻击比一般的分布式拒绝服务攻击更强大、更难以抵御。

In a rush of excitement about the prospect⁵ of controlling houses and office buildings from smartphones — changing the temperature or detecting burglars using cameras — many manufacturers with little experience of cyber security have connected devices to the internet.

在通过智能手机控制住宅和办公楼（调整温度或者利用摄像头监测盗贼）的前景引起的兴奋之情中，许多没有多少网络安全经验的厂商把它们的设备连接到了互联网上。

Regulators have not yet created clear rules on how they should be protected and even businesses are finding well meaning suppliers or facilities managers have accidentally created holes in their corporate⁶ networks by adding connected devices.

监管机构还没有制定明确的规则，规定该如何保护这些联网设备，甚至连企业也逐渐发现，善意的供应商或者设备管理者也会因为增加联网设备不经意地造成企业网络的漏洞。

Michael Sutton, chief information security officer of Zscaler, a cloud security company, said Friday’s attack would be a wake-up call for the hardware industry.

云安全公司Zscaler的首席信息安全官迈克尔.萨顿(Michael Sutton)表示，上周五的黑客攻击将成为硬件行业的一通叫醒电话。

Security in the hardware industry is a decade behind where it is in the software industry, he said.

硬件业的安全落后于软件业十年，他说，

Mirai was successful because so many webcams, digital video recorders, etc have been produced with default passwords that have never been changed.

Mirai的成功是因为有如此之多的网络摄像头、数字录像机等设备生产出来时附带的默认密码从未更改过。

A simple internet scan identifies them and they can quickly be compromised.

一次简单的互联网扫描就能识别出这些密码，让它们迅速陷入危险的境地。

Cyber security experts have been warning about the risk of Internet of Things devices for years, staging high profile hacks⁷ at their annual conference Def Con³ that show how everything from connected cars to insulin pumps could be hacked⁸.

多年来，网络安全专家一直在告诉人们警惕物联网设备的风险，在他们的年度会议Def Con上公开展示引人注目的黑客攻击，展现出从联网汽车到胰岛素泵等一切事物都可能被入侵。

But often it has been hard to see why a cyber criminal would target an individual’s device, unless to expose the activity of a person in the public eye or cause harm to a political figure.

但通常，很难看出为何网络犯罪者会把个人设备列为目标，除非是为了把一个人的行动暴露在公众视线下，或者是为了伤害某个政治人物。

This attack showed even if a connected device is not necessarily a huge threat to its owner, it could be used maliciously⁹ to attack others.

这次的黑客攻击表明，就算一个联网设备不一定会给设备所有者本人带来巨大威胁，这个设备也可以被恶意利用来攻击其他人。

Gartner, the research firm, forecasts there will be over 20bn connected devices in the world by 2020 with consumers spending $1,500bn on the Internet of Things and businesses spending almost as much.

研究公司Gartner预测，到2020年，世界上将有逾200亿台联网设备，消费者将在物联网上花费1.5万亿美元，而企业的花费几乎也将达到同一水平。

The research firm predicts that more than a quarter of attacks on companies will involve connected devices by 2020, but enterprises will only spend 10 per cent of their cyber security budgets on protecting against these types of attacks.

Gartner预测，到2020年，超过四分之一对企业的攻击将涉及联网设备，但企业只会将10%的网络安全预算花在对此类攻击的防御上。

Jeremiah Grossman, chief of security strategy at SentinelOne, a Silicon¹⁰ Valley-based cyber security company, says more attention to the problem of insecure devices is long overdue¹¹.

硅谷网络安全公司SentinelOne的安全策略主管杰里迈亚.格罗斯曼(Jeremiah Grossman)表示，早就应该对设备不安全问题投注更多注意力。

Device makers¹² should force users to change their default passwords as part of the set-up process and issue security updates, just as they do on PCs, he said.

他说，设备制造商应该迫使用户修改默认密码，将这作为设置流程的一步，并且发布安全更新，就像对个人电脑(PC)所做的那样。

Installing an agent that can monitor what the device is doing would have showed the very anomalous¹³ behaviour when it was recruited to a botnet, he added.

安装一个能够监控设备活动的代理，就会在这个设备被黑客吸收到僵尸网络之中时显示它非常异常的活动。

Regulating the industry is almost impossible, Mr Grossman added, because the companies connecting devices to the internet do not fit in any one category: stretching from makers of smart TVs to medical device manufacturers.

对该行业进行监管几乎不可能，格罗斯曼补充道，因为将设备连接到互联网的公司无法被归为任何一个类别：囊括了从智能电视制造商到医疗器械制造商等各类公司。

Some regulators have taken a look at the potential threat, with the US Food and Drug Administration, which oversees¹⁴ the manufacturers of pacemakers and other medical equipment, issuing draft guidelines earlier this year for how hospitals and manufacturers should monitor devices for vulnerabilities and deploy¹⁵ updates.

一些监管机构看到了潜在威胁，监督起搏器和其他医疗器械制造商的美国食品药品管理局(FDA)今年早些时候就医院和制造商该如何监控设备漏洞并运用更新发布了指导文件草案。

Shuman Ghosemajumder, chief technology officer at Shape Security, agreed it is tough for regulators to solve the problem as security challenges are constantly changing when hackers develop new techniques.

Shape Security首席技术官舒曼.高斯马宗德(Shuman Ghosemajumder)认同监管机构很难解决问题，因为黑客不断开发新手段使安全挑战不断变化。

But he said they should be responsible for setting minimum expectations and norms.

但他说，监管机构应该负起责任，制定最低要求和规范。

The industry as a whole needs to do a better job.

整个行业应该做得更好。

There’s no question that the growth of the ‘Internet of Things’ has been fuelled by the excitement around the internet connection enabling new functionality and security has taken a back seat, he said.

毫无疑问，对互联网连接带来新功能的兴奋之情推动了‘物联网’的发展，而安全问题被抛到了一边，他说。

However, he added that potential targets, such as Dyn, a domain name services provider which many major companies rely on to provide access to their sites, also need to improve their security and better protect themselves from these ever-expanding botnets.

然而，他补充，像域名服务提供商Dyn（许多大公司都依赖Dyn来提供对它们网站的访问）这样的潜在目标也需要提高它们的安全水平，更好地抵御不断扩大的僵尸网络。

Dyn said in a blog post on Saturday that it was watching out for any further attacks and working with law enforcement agencies and others to investigate who was behind the attack.

Dyn上周六发布博文称，正在警惕进一步的攻击，并正与执法机构和其他方面合作，调查此次攻击的幕后黑手。

The number and type of attacks, the duration and the scale, and the complexity¹⁶ of these attacks are all on the rise, said Kyle York, chief strategy officer.

这类攻击的数量和类型、持续时间和规模，以及复杂性，都在上升，首席策略官凯尔.约克(Kyle York)说。

Mr York said because of the customers that relied on it Dyn was often the first responder of the internet.

约克说，因为依赖于Dyn服务的客户，Dyn通常是互联网的第一响应者。

But as the internet grows larger, bringing in thermostats¹⁷, lightbulbs and baby monitor, sending in the paramedics just got even harder.

但随着互联网规模扩大，将恒温器、灯泡和婴儿监视器都连接进来，请医务人员救急却变得更加困难了。