美國考慮對入侵索尼黑客做出迴應

WASHINGTON — A White House official said on Thursday that the administration was considering a “proportional response” against those who hacked into Sony Pictures computers, a retaliation that could thrust the United States into a direct confrontation with North Korea.

華盛頓——一名白宮官員在週四表示，政府正在考慮對入侵索尼電影娛樂公司(Sony Pictures)電腦的黑客做出“適當迴應”，反擊行動可能會使美國陷入與朝鮮的直接對抗之中。

Officials would not describe what such a response might entail, but they stressed that the episode had become a major concern at the upper levels of government, including President Obama, who lately has been discussing the issue with aides every day.

官員們沒有說明會採取哪些迴應舉措，但他們強調，該事件已經受到包括奧巴馬在內的政府高層的高度關注，奧巴馬最近每天都在與助手討論這個問題。

“This is something that’s being treated as a serious national security matter,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, told reporters. “There is evidence to indicate that we have seen destructive activity with malicious intent that was initiated by a sophisticated actor.”

“這起事件是作爲嚴重的國家安全問題來對待的，”白宮發言人喬希·歐內斯特(Josh Earnest)告訴記者。“有證據表明，我們看到的是由老練的行動者發動的、帶有惡意的破壞性活動。”

United States officials have privately concluded that North Korea was “centrally involved” in the hacking even as Sony canceled the release of a comedy that features the fictional assassination of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and that apparently prompted the cyberattack. Mr. Earnest would not confirm the North Korean role at his daily briefing but he did not deny it either, saying that investigators would ultimately report on their findings.

美國官員私下裏的結論是，朝鮮與黑客事件“密切相關”，索尼取消放映的喜劇電影，顯然是引發了網絡攻擊的原因，該片講述了刺殺朝鮮領導人金正恩(Kim Jong-un)的虛構故事。歐內斯特在每日簡報會上沒有證實朝鮮在該事件中扮演的角色，但他也沒有予以否認，稱調查人員最終會彙報調查結果。

Mr. Earnest said the government did not tell Sony to pull the film, “The Interview,” and expressed support for the studio’s right to make it, even if it would offend some viewers.

歐內斯特表示，政府沒有要求索尼取消電影《採訪》(The Interview)的放映，並表示了對該公司的支持，稱其有權制作這樣一部電影，即便影片會冒犯一些觀衆。

“The United States stands squarely on the side of artists and companies that want to express themselves,” he said, “and we believe that that kind of artistic expression is worthy of expression and is not something that should be subjected to intimidation just because you happen to disagree with the views.”

“美國將堅定地站在希望表達自己的藝術家和公司一邊，”他說，“而且我們相信，那種藝術表達是值得表達的，不應該因爲你剛好不同意這些觀點而受到恐嚇。”

But he was vague about what kind of action the United States might take in response to the cyberattack and even hinted that it may be of a character that was hard to publicly detect. He added that the president and his team would take into consideration that its authors might be trying to stir a response to get attention, a calculation often imputed by Washington to North Korea’s mercurial leadership.

但是，他並未明確表示美國將採取何種行動來回應此次網絡攻擊，甚至暗示可能會通過一種公衆難以察覺的方式。他還表示，總統和他的團隊將考慮，襲擊者是否只是試圖激起迴應，以引起關注。這種做法往往被華盛頓歸咎於朝鮮領導層的反覆無常。

“They would be mindful of the fact that we need a proportional response, and also mindful of the fact that sophisticated actors, when they carry out actions like this, are oftentimes — not always, but often — seeking to provoke a response from the United States of America,” Mr. Earnest said. “They may believe that a response from us in one fashion or another would be advantageous to them. So we want to be mindful of that.”

“他們應該會注意這樣一個事實：我們需要做出合理的迴應，也應該注意，經驗豐富的襲擊者在做出這種舉動時，往往是——不總是，但經常如此——希望能激起美國的迴應，”歐內斯特說。“他們可能認爲，不論我們做出什麼反應，都對他們有利。所以我們希望能小心謹慎。”