网经安全新领域：暗网情报|《财富》独家

挥之不去的黑客威胁对企业来说是个祸害，但对网络安全公司来说则是个“福音”。总部设在波士顿的威胁情报服务商Recorded Future就是一个鲜活的例子，它刚刚完成E轮融资，从Insight Venture Partners获得2500万美元业务扩展资金。

Recorded Future从事监视所谓“暗网”的小众业务。犯罪分子在这个网络中碰头，目的是策划网络攻击并将盗取的个人和公司信息卖出去。

据首席执行官克里斯托弗·阿尔伯格介绍，Recorded Future目前的客户来自22个不同的垂直领域。以前该公司的服务对象只有政府和金融行业客户，现在从小型零售商到航空公司，各行各业都开始购买暗网情报。

Recorded Future发现威胁的途径之一是雇佣“间谍”并将其安插在与犯罪有关的网络聊天室中，包括那些俄罗斯黑客常去的聊天室，进而探听他们的攻击目标。作为Flashpoint和Digital Shadows等同行的竞争对手，Recorded Future还借助人工智能技术来进行监视。

阿尔伯格说，《财富》2000强中排名靠后的小公司对Recorded Future的需求不断增长，来自现有客户的需求也是如此，他们正在把威胁情报工具整合到自身业务的各个部门中。他还透露，Recorded Future正在和Splunk等数据和分析领域巨头展开合作。

阿尔伯格没有提供具体财务信息，但表示Recorded Future的收入为“中等八位数”，年增长率一直保持在100%。他还说，该公司即将出现正现金流。

同时，黑客的威胁不大可能很快消退。

阿尔伯格指出，盗取自美国国家安全局等政府情报部门的强大黑客工具在一定程度上成了最近一些威胁因素的推手，包括刚刚出现的坏兔子（Bad Rabbit）勒索病毒。现在朝鲜等“流氓国家”以及普通犯罪团伙都在使用这些工具。

他还警告说，网络攻击在国际关系中正变得越发普遍，原因是政府借网络攻击来实现外交目的。

阿尔伯格说：“网络和政治以及战争的结合正在成为现实。如果你相信克劳塞维茨（普鲁士将军，曾说‘战争是政治以其他形式的延续’），那么2016年的美国总统大选就只是个开始。我们的俄罗斯朋友已经就此演练了一段时间了。”（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

The ongoing threat of hackers is a menace to companies, but is a boon for cybersecurity companies. A case in point is Recorded Future, a threat intelligence service based in Boston, which just raised $25 million in a Series E fundraising round from Insight Venture Partners to expand its operations.

The firm has a niche in monitoring the so-called “dark web,” where crooks meet to plot cyber attacks and to sell the information they rip off from consumers and companies.

According to CEO Christopher Ahlberg, Recorded Future now has clients in 22 different industry verticals. Whereas it once served only government and the financial sector customers, everyone from smaller retailers to the airline industry is now signing up for dark web intelligence.

One way Recorded Future discovers threats is by hiring moles who hang out in criminal chatrooms, including those popular with Russian hackers, and learning about their targets. The firm, which competes with the likes of Flashpoint and Digital Shadows, also relies on artificial intelligence technology to carry out the monitoring.

According to Ahlberg, Recorded Future is facing growing demand from smaller firms further down the Fortune 2000 list, and from existing clients who are now incorporating threat intelligence tools into different parts of their operations. He added the firm is also partnering with tech giants like Splunk that specialize in data and analytics.

Ahlberg did not provide precise financial information, but said Recorded Future’s revenues are “in the mid-eight figures” and that it has enjoyed 100% year-over-year growth. He added the company is close to being cash-flow positive.

Meanwhile, the threat of hackers is unlikely to recede anytime soon.

Ahlberg said the latest wave of threats, including the current wave of ransomware attacks known as Bad Rabbit, is partly driven by the theft of powerful hacking tools from government spy agencies like the NSA. These tools are now being deployed both by rogue nation states like North Korea and by common criminal gangs.

Ahlberg also warned that cyber attacks are becoming more common in international relations as countries use them to further foreign policy goals.

“The mix of cyber with politics and warfare is coming true,”Ahlberg said. “If you believe Clausewitz (the Prussian general who said ‘War is continuation of politics by other means’) then the U.S. 2016 election was just the beginning. This is something our Russian friends have been practicing for a while.”