抓捕俄羅斯黑客 美國困境重重

WASHINGTON — When a suspected Russian cybercriminal named Dmitry Ukrainsky was arrested in a Thai resort town last summer, the American authorities hoped they could whisk him back to New York for trial and put at least a temporary dent in Russia’s arsenal of computer hackers.

華盛頓——當名爲德米特里•烏克蘭斯基(Dmitry Ukrainsky)的俄羅斯網絡犯罪嫌疑人於去年夏天在一個泰國度假小鎮被捕時，美國當局原本希望他們可以將他迅速帶回紐約進行審判，對俄羅斯計算機黑客團隊至少造成短暫的打擊。

But the Russian authorities moved quickly to persuade Thailand not to extradite him, saying that he should be prosecuted at home.

但俄羅斯當局很快採取行動，說服泰國不引渡他，稱他應該在自己的國家接受起訴。

American officials knew what that meant.

美國官員知道那意味着什麼。

If Mr Ukrainsky got on a plane to Moscow, they concluded, he would soon be back at work in front of a computer.

他們推斷，如果烏克蘭斯基登上飛往莫斯科的飛機，他很快就會回到電腦前工作。

The American authorities continue the unacceptable practice of ‘hunting’ for Russians all over the world, ignoring the norms of international laws and twisting other states’ arms, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

美國當局持續進行讓人無法接受的滿世界‘追捕’俄羅斯人的行動，無視國際法的規範，向其他國家施壓，俄羅斯外交部表示。

The dispute over Mr Ukrainsky,

烏克蘭斯基的案件依然被擱置。

whose case remains in limbo, highlights the difficulties — and at times impossibilities —

圍繞他產生的爭端，突顯出美國在對付俄羅斯黑客上遭遇的困難，有時甚至是不可能實現的事。

that the United States faces in combating Russian hackers, including those behind the recent attacks on the Democratic National Committee.

這些黑客就包括民主黨全國委員會(Democratic National Committee)最近遭遇的襲擊背後所潛藏的人。

That hack influenced the course, if not the outcome, of a presidential campaign and was the culmination of years of increasingly brazen digital assaults on American infrastructure.

這場襲擊就算沒有影響一場總統競選的結果，也影響了它的進程，稱得上是連續多年來，對美國基礎設施所實施的數字襲擊的巔峯，而且這種襲擊還在日益變得肆無忌憚。

The United States has few options for responding to such hacks.

在對此類襲擊做出反應時，美國的選擇並不多。

Russia does not extradite its citizens and has shown that it will not easily be deterred through public shaming.

俄羅斯不引渡它的公民，而且表明它不會因爲遭到公開的羞辱而輕易退卻。

At times, the American authorities have enlisted local police officials to arrest suspects when they leave Russia — for vacation in the Maldives, for example.

有時，美國當局會在嫌疑犯離開俄羅斯時——比如去馬爾代夫度假——讓當地的警察逮捕他們。

But more often than not, the F.B.I. and Justice Department investigate and compile accusations and evidence against people who will almost certainly never stand trial.

但更常見的情況是，聯邦調查局(FBI)和司法部(Justice Department)調查和整理了針對一些人的指控和證據，而這些人幾乎可以肯定永遠不會受到審判。

You can indict 400 people.

你可以起訴400個人，

They don’t care, said Robert E. Anderson Jr., who until last year served as the F.B.I.’s most senior executive overseeing computer investigations.

他們不在乎，直到去年還在擔任FBI計算機犯罪調查部門最高長官的小羅伯特•E•安德遜•(Robert E. Anderson Jr.)說道。

The American government divides the cybersecurity world into two categories: attacks directed or sponsored by governments, and those conducted by criminals.

美國政府將網絡安全世界劃分成兩類：由政府指使或資助的襲擊和由犯罪分子進行的。

But Russian hacking defies easy categorization, American officials say, because the Russian government tacitly supports many private hackers and occasionally taps them for freelance government work.

但美國官員表示，他們無法簡單地對俄羅斯黑客襲擊進行分類，因爲俄羅斯政府暗地裏支持了許多個人黑客，偶爾還讓他們做一些政府兼職工作。

That has complicated investigations and upended the normal diplomatic order.

這令調查變得更加複雜，也打破了常規的外交秩序。

In May 2009, for instance, Secret Service agents met in Moscow with their counterparts in the Russian Federal Security Service, known as the F.S.B.

比如在2009年5月，美國特勤局(Secret Service)的特工在莫斯科與俄羅斯聯邦安全局（Russian Federal Security Service，簡稱FSB）的特工會面。

The Americans said they were investigating a hacker who had installed malicious code in the software that some American businesses used to process credit card transactions.

美方表示，他們在調查一名黑客，此人在一些美國公司用來處理信用卡交易的軟件中設置了惡意代碼。

The hacker was stealing millions of credit card numbers and selling them in an underground digital marketplace.

這名黑客在盜取數百萬信用卡號碼，將它們拿到一個地下數字市場出售。

The agents provided a name — Roman Seleznev — and the aliases he used online.

這些特工提供了一個名字——羅曼•謝列茲尼奧夫(Roman Seleznev)——及他在網上使用的一些化名。

His father was a member of the Russian Parliament.

他的父親是俄羅斯國會議員。

The Secret Service had followed his digital trail to Vladivostok, Russia, and they asked for help catching him.

美國特勤局追蹤他的數字蹤跡至俄羅斯的符拉迪沃斯託克，要求俄方幫助抓捕他。

Within weeks, all evidence of Mr Seleznev’s online identity vanished from the internet.

然而在幾周之內，有關謝列茲尼奧夫網上身份的所有證據便從互聯網上消失了。

Rather than advancing the case, the Russian government had set it back, the American authorities believed.

美國當局認爲，俄羅斯政府非但沒有推進這個案件，反倒形成了阻礙。

Prosecutors described their blunt conclusion in court documents: Further coordination with the Russian government would jeopardize efforts to prosecute this case.

檢方在法庭文件裏下了這樣的結論：與俄羅斯政府的進一步合作，將危及起訴這個案件的努力。

The American authorities were left to pursue Mr Seleznev by themselves.

美國當局現在只能自己設法追查謝列茲尼奧夫了。

In the D.N.C. case and other election-year hacks, the authorities have concluded that people affiliated with the Russian government are to blame.

當局得出結論，認爲在民主黨全國委員會的案件和競選年裏的其他黑客襲擊中，罪魁禍首是與俄羅斯政府有關聯的人。

But even if intelligence officials can identify who is behind those attacks, naming the actual perpetrators is even harder.

但即便情報官員能確定誰是這些襲擊的幕後主使，要找到真正的犯罪者卻更難。

One senior federal law enforcement official said this week that investigators still had many unanswered questions.

一位高層聯邦執法官員表示，本週調查人員還有很多問題沒有得到答案。

If it can be done, naming and prosecuting the hackers would follow a path set in 2014,

如果可以做到這些，確認身份和對黑客提起指控的情形就會和2014年的案件一樣。

when the Justice Department indicted five members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on charges of hacking into American networks.

當時司法部以入侵美國網絡的罪名起訴了五名中國人民解放軍人員。

The indictment links the men to specific email addresses and aliases, but does not reveal how the authorities made those connections.

這份起訴書將這些人與特定的郵件地址和化名聯繫起來，但沒顯示當局是如何建立起這些聯繫的。

The chance of us ever getting those Chinese guys is about zero, said Mr Anderson.

我們抓到這些中國人的機率幾乎等於零，安德遜說。

But it does show them that there’s a change afoot.

但這的確讓他們看到，情況在發生變化。

At least the way we’re looking at it policy-wise.

至少我們在政策方面看待它的方式在發生變化。

Criminal charges have more practical implications, too.

犯罪指控也有更多實際的影響。

It’s about denying them the ability to travel freely and preventing them from spending their ill-gotten gains anywhere but Russia, said Leo Taddeo, the chief security officer at Cryptzone and the former top agent in the F.B.I.’s New York computer operations division.

這基本上會讓他們無法自由出行，也能防止他們在俄羅斯以外的地方用這些非法所得進行消費，之前爲FBI紐約網絡犯罪分部首席特工、現在擔任Cryptzone首席安全官的利奧•塔代奧(Leo Taddeo)說。

You’re confining them to a prison that spans 11 time zones that can be a pretty unpleasant place.

你是把他們關進了一座跨越11個時區的監獄，那裏有時可能讓人相當不舒服。