It was meant to be “cyber-security awareness month”. Experts now call it “Black October”. In recent weeks the normal flow of computer hacks and bugs that engineers must constantly stem has become a torrent.(最近几周，工程师们必须不断遏制的电脑黑客攻击和漏洞的正常流量，已变成一股洪流。) The cause is artificial intelligence, which has turbocharged(给…加涡轮增压；极大地推动) cyber malfeasance(不法行为；渎职). Open-source AI models have empowered attackers to work with inhuman efficiency, competence and persistence(以非人的效率、能力和持久性). As a result, years’ worth of critical flaws have been exposed in days.
它本应是“网络安全意识月”。如今专家们却称之为“黑色十月”。最近几周，工程师们必须不断遏制的电脑黑客攻击和漏洞的正常流量，已变成一股洪流。原因在于人工智能，它给网络犯罪活动加了涡轮增压。开源AI模型使攻击者能够以非人的效率、能力和持久性开展工作。结果，多年积累的关键漏洞在几天内就被暴露出来。
Those flaws range from shocking to ridiculous. Engineers have rushed to fix a flaw in PHP, a widely used programming language, that let attackers take over any computer using it.(工程师们争相修复PHP（一种广泛使用的编程语言）中的一个漏洞，该漏洞让攻击者能够接管任何使用它的电脑。) Freezers in supermarkets across Europe powered down on the instructions of cyber-criminals. And a crucial internet security certificate was revealed to have a private key of “4”, when it should have been a hundred digits long.(一个关键互联网安全证书被发现其私钥竟然是“4”，而它本应长达一百位数字。) Nobody knows what bugs might have been found and exploited in private.
这些漏洞有的令人震惊，有的则荒唐可笑。工程师们争相修复PHP（一种广泛使用的编程语言）中的一个漏洞，该漏洞让攻击者能够接管任何使用它的电脑。欧洲各地超市的冰柜在网络犯罪分子的指令下断电。一个关键互联网安全证书被发现其私钥竟然是“4”，而它本应长达一百位数字。没有人知道还有哪些漏洞可能在私下里被发现并利用。
These events have been sobering for the many commentators, including this newspaper, who hoped that the disruption to cyber-security from ai would be short-lived, and that the technology itself would help those who defend digital systems more than it would empower crooks.(这些事件让许多评论人士（包括本刊）清醒过来，他们曾希望AI对网络安全的冲击是短暂的，并希望这项技术对数字系统防御者的帮助会大于对罪犯的助长。) Those hopes are being dash(使破灭；猛撞)ed. Instead, the digital infrastructure on which modern life depends looks increasingly vulnerable(脆弱的；易受攻击的) to ai. Urgent action is needed to defend it.
这些事件让许多评论人士（包括本刊）清醒过来，他们曾希望AI对网络安全的冲击是短暂的，并希望这项技术对数字系统防御者的帮助会大于对罪犯的助长。这些希望正在破灭。相反，现代生活所依赖的数字基础设施看起来越来越容易受到AI的攻击。需要采取紧急行动来保护它。