VOA: Most Businesses Have Recovered from Global Technology Disruption

A major computer system outage affected a wide range of businesses around the world beginning late last week. But the cause of the outage was quickly identified and fixes were deployed to bring most businesses back online.

上周末晚些时候开始，一场重大的计算机系统故障影响了全球范围内的众多企业。但故障原因很快就被查明，并且已经部署了修复程序，使大多数企业恢复了在线运营。

The problems were linked to a software update provided by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The outage affected computers using Microsoft’s Windows operating system. The incident caused major flight delays and cancellations. It also affected banking, health care, media and other businesses.

这些问题与网络安全公司 CrowdStrike 提供的软件更新有关。这次故障影响了使用微软 Windows 操作系统的计算机。该事件导致了大规模的航班延误和取消。它还影响了银行、医疗保健、媒体和其他行业。

Computers affected by the outage showed what is known in the technology industry as the “blue screen of death.” This warning tool is designed to inform Windows users that there is a problem and to block further activity to prevent wider system damage.

受故障影响的计算机显示了科技行业中被称为“蓝屏死机”的现象。此警告工具旨在通知 Windows 用户存在问题，并阻止进一步的操作以防止更广泛的系统损坏。

Officials at Texas-based CrowdStrike were quick to admit a software update containing a programming mistake was sent to customers and caused the outage. Once the problem was identified and a fix deployed, CrowdStrike said it centered on assisting customers to get systems back up as soon as possible.

总部位于德克萨斯州的 CrowdStrike 公司的官员很快承认，一个包含编程错误的软件更新被发送给了客户，并导致了此次故障。CrowdStrike 表示，一旦问题得到确认并部署了修复程序，他们就会集中精力帮助客户尽快恢复系统。

Technology experts noted one issue with the latest outage was that the problematic software update could not be corrected remotely. Instead, individual machines had to be fixed, with bad files removed by technology workers.

技术专家指出，最近这次故障的一个问题是，有问题的软件更新无法远程修复。相反，必须对每台机器进行单独修复，由技术人员删除错误的文件。

CrowdStrike’s main business is to provide solutions to help companies prevent internet attacks. However, company leaders made clear that the latest outage was only related to the software update and not part of any cybersecurity attack.

CrowdStrike 的主要业务是提供解决方案，帮助企业防止网络攻击。然而，该公司领导人明确表示，最近的这次故障只与软件更新有关，与任何网络安全攻击无关。

CrowdStrike continued to inform the public about its latest correction efforts and provided guidance for some businesses to attempt to deal with the issue themselves.

CrowdStrike 继续向公众通报其最新的修复工作，并为一些企业尝试自行解决问题提供了指导。

Disruptions around the world

全球范围内的中断

The outage disrupted operations at airlines, banks, hospitals and organizations around the world.

这次故障扰乱了全球航空公司、银行、医院和组织的运营。

Among U.S. airlines, Delta officials said Monday it was forced to cancel more than 4,000 flights since the outage began last Friday. But other major carriers, including American Airlines and United, reported they had largely ended any flight disruptions.

在美国的航空公司中，达美航空的官员周一表示，自上周五故障发生以来，该公司被迫取消了 4000 多个航班。但包括美国航空和联合航空在内的其他主要航空公司报告称，他们基本上已经结束了所有航班中断。

Delta chief Ed Bastian apologized to the airline’s customers for the continuing delays and cancellations. He said the company was working around the clock to fix all affected systems. Delta said about 60 percent of its main systems run on Microsoft Windows and therefore were left inoperable by the outage.

达美航空首席执行官埃德·巴斯蒂安就持续的延误和取消向该航空公司的客户道歉。他说，公司正在昼夜不停地工作，以修复所有受影响的系统。达美航空表示，其大约 60% 的主要系统运行在微软 Windows 上，因此在故障中无法运行。

Some technology experts expressed concern that such outages can be extremely disruptive because the systems built to run most of the world’s computers are provided by only a small number of companies.

一些技术专家表示担心，此类故障可能会造成极大的破坏，因为构建用于运行世界上大多数计算机的系统只由少数几家公司提供。

Gregory Falco is an assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University in New York. He studies internet security issues. Falco told The Associated Press it is a problem that so many computers worldwide depend on the same technologies and providers. “We rely on very few companies, and everybody uses the same folks, so everyone goes down at the same time,” Falco said.

格雷戈里·法尔科是纽约康奈尔大学的工程学助理教授。他研究互联网安全问题。法尔科告诉美联社，全球如此多的计算机依赖于相同的技术和供应商是一个问题。“我们依赖的公司非常少，而且每个人都使用相同的供应商，所以每个人都会同时崩溃，”法尔科说。

CrowdStrike is one of the largest cybersecurity service providers, especially in transportation, health care, banking and media. This is the reason it affected so many businesses in those industries. An irony of the outage was that companies normally look to CrowdStrike’s tools to help prevent internet attacks that could bring their systems down and cause costly disruptions.

CrowdStrike 是最大的网络安全服务提供商之一，尤其是在交通、医疗保健、银行和媒体领域。这就是它影响到这些行业中如此多企业的原因。具有讽刺意味的是，企业通常指望 CrowdStrike 的工具来帮助防止可能导致其系统瘫痪并造成代价高昂的中断的网络攻击。

Falco noted that while fears of such a widespread outage have long existed, he thinks too few providers are becoming “even more entrenched” with certain technologies. "We like to think that we have a lot of players available. But at the end of the day, the biggest companies use all the same stuff.”

法尔科指出，虽然人们对这种大范围停电的担忧由来已久，但他认为，在某些技术领域，供应商的数量太少，而且“根深蒂固”。“我们喜欢认为我们有很多玩家可用。但在一天结束的时候，最大的公司使用的都是一样的东西。”

Richard Stiennon is a cybersecurity expert who has followed industry developments for 24 years. He told the AP he sees the software issue as a historic mistake by CrowdStrike. “This is easily the worst faux pas, technical faux pas or glitch of any security software provider ever,” Stiennon said.

理查德·斯蒂农是一位网络安全专家，他已经跟踪行业发展 24 年了。他告诉美联社，他认为软件问题是 CrowdStrike 的一个历史性错误。“这很容易成为有史以来任何安全软件供应商最严重的失礼、技术失误或故障，”斯蒂农说。

He added that while the problem had an easy technical fix, it could still have lasting effects for some companies. This is because the outage required hands-on efforts to fix each affected computer and this can severely disrupt business operations.

他补充说，虽然这个问题有一个简单的技术解决方案，但它仍然可能对一些公司产生持久的影响。这是因为停电需要人工努力来修复每台受影响的计算机，这可能会严重扰乱业务运营。

I’m Bryan Lynn.

我是布莱恩·林恩。

update - n. to add new information to an existing thing

customer – n. a person who buys goods or services

remote – adv. happening from far away

disruption – n. to interrupt something and stop it from continuing as it should

irony – adj. a situation in which the opposite happens than what was expected

entrenched – adj. ideas or things that have existed for a long time

faux pas – n. words or behavior that represent a social mistake or something not polite

glitch – n. a small problem or issue that prevents something from being successful or working as well as it should