How bad are cyberattacks for the economy? This professor helped the White House assess the damage
网络攻击对经济有多严重？这位教授帮助白宫评估了损失
News & Media > 2020 > Scherbina Q&A As a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers, Anna Scherbina used her expertise to shape policy in Washington, D.C. February 20, 2020 | By Douglas Moser
新闻与媒体；Scherbina Q&A作为经济顾问委员会的高级经济学家，Anna Scherbina利用她的专业知识在华盛顿特区制定了政策。Douglas Moser，2020年2月20日
Prof. Anna Scherbina contributed to two economic reports for the president during her time on the Council of Economic Advisers.
安娜·舍尔比纳教授在担任经济顾问理事会成员期间为总统提交了两份经济报告。
When White House officials needed an expert to examine the economic impact of cybersecurity threats, they called on Anna Scherbina. Scherbina is an associate professor of finance at Brandeis International Business School. From 2017 to 2019, she served as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers, the executive agency responsible for providing the president of the United States with objective advice on economic policy. In this role, Scherbina literally wrote the chapter on cybersecurity in the 2018 Economic Report of the President. She drew particular attention to data breaches and concluded with her colleagues that malicious cyber activity cost the U.S. economy between $57 billion and $109 billion in 2016, or upwards of 0.58 percent of gross domestic product. “Companies collect a lot of data and innovate, but they don’t always protect their data or intellectual property sufficiently well,” said Scherbina. “Every year, the FBI is keeping tabs on thousands of security breaches.”Scherbina’s work on the council covered a wide range of important and emerging topics — including international finance, FinTech and artificial intelligence. She also contributed to the chapter about AI in the council’s 2019 report. During a recent interview, Scherbina reflected on her work for the White House and why she thinks Brandeis is an exciting place to teach.
当白宫官员需要一位专家来研究网络安全威胁的经济影响时，他们求助于安娜·舍尔比娜（Anna Scherbina），舍尔比娜是布兰迪斯国际商学院（Brandeis International Business School）的金融学副教授。2017年至2019年，她担任美国经济顾问委员会（Council of Economic Advisers）的高级经济学家，该委员会是负责就经济政策向美国总统提供客观建议的执行机构。在这一职位上，舍尔比纳在《美国总统2018年经济报告》（2018 Economic Report of the president）中直截了当地撰写了有关网络安全的章节。她特别关注数据泄露问题，并与同事们总结道，2016年，恶意网络活动使美国经济损失了570亿至1090亿美元，占国内生产总值（GDP）的0.58%以上，但他们并不总是能很好地保护自己的数据或知识产权。“每年，联邦调查局都会密切关注数以千计的安全漏洞。”舍尔比纳在该委员会的工作涵盖了一系列重要和新兴的话题，包括国际金融、金融科技和人工智能。她还为议会2019年报告中有关人工智能的章节做出了贡献。在最近的一次采访中，舍尔比娜反思了她在白宫的工作，以及她为什么认为布兰代斯是一个令人兴奋的教学场所。
What are the consequences of data breaches and hacking?
数据泄露和黑客攻击的后果是什么？
I researched the impact of malicious cyber activity, no matter where it came from — cybercriminals, foreign hackers, other nation-states. Foreign hackers are the most difficult adversary to deal with. I assessed the impact on the U.S. corporate sector and found that any given hack can reverberate throughout the economy, way beyond the company that was attacked. When one company is compromised, other businesses feel the impact too because everybody is so connected through different supply chain connections, and through similarities in the technology they use.
我研究了恶意网络活动的影响，不管它来自哪里——网络罪犯、外国黑客、其他国家。外国黑客是最难对付的对手。我评估了对美国企业界的影响，发现任何一次黑客攻击都能在整个经济中产生反响，远远超过被攻击的公司。当一家公司受到损害时，其他公司也会感受到影响，因为每个人都是通过不同的供应链连接，以及通过他们所使用的技术的相似性而联系在一起的。
How do supply chains and technology amplify the damage?
供应链和技术如何放大损害？
Imagine if one company experiences a breach. It’s now likely that other companies using similar technology or suppliers will have to investigate whether they were breached at the same time. And now you know there’s some flaw — suddenly there’s the possibility that everybody’s exploiting it. In reality, other firms probably were breached too, but this information may never come out publicly.Supply chains have turned out to be a cybersecurity vulnerability. Companies in a large firm’s supply chain tend to be smaller with fewer resources. Generally speaking, the cyber capabilities of these companies are weaker than, say, a major retailer like Target. But remember the Target data breach? The hackers got in through Target’s HVAC company. That’s why it’s very valuable to know who your suppliers are.
想象一下，如果一家公司遇到了漏洞。现在有可能其他使用类似技术的公司或供应商将不得不调查他们是否同时违约。现在你知道有一个缺陷-突然之间有可能每个人都在利用它。事实上，其他公司也可能被攻破，但这些信息可能永远不会公开，供应链已经变成了一个网络安全漏洞。大公司供应链中的公司往往规模较小，资源较少。一般来说，这些公司的网络能力比大型零售商Target弱。但还记得目标数据泄露吗？黑客通过目标公司的暖通空调公司进入。这就是为什么知道你的供应商是谁是非常有价值的。
Where do you see artificial intelligence having a big impact?
你认为人工智能在哪里有很大的影响？
Artificial intelligence is most useful when you have a lot of data to train it. So what industries will feel the biggest impact from AI? Maybe not finance because our time series is very short, meaning the data is not as good. The possibility of changing regulations also means we’ll have changing data patterns and that’s a challenge for AI.But healthcare is another matter because a disease is more or less always the same. This is an industry where you can really make advances. AI is not going to remove the need for doctors, but it could augment their work by being able to spot suspicious patterns that might be difficult to see with the naked eye.I also see AI taking over tasks like report writing, so there’s a potential impact on lawyers, financial analysts and others. But for something that requires a lot of creativity, especially in identifying the way patterns change, AI is far less effective.
人工智能是最有用的，当你有很多数据来训练它。那么，哪些行业会感受到人工智能的最大影响呢？可能不是金融，因为我们的时间序列很短，这意味着数据没有那么好。改变规则的可能性也意味着我们将改变数据模式，这对人工智能来说是一个挑战，但医疗保健是另一个问题，因为疾病或多或少总是一样的。这是一个你可以真正取得进步的行业。人工智能并不会消除对医生的需求，但它可以通过发现肉眼可能难以看到的可疑模式来增强他们的工作。我还看到人工智能接管了报告写作等任务，因此对律师、金融分析师和其他人有潜在的影响。但是对于一些需要大量创造力的东西，特别是在识别模式变化的方式上，人工智能的效率要低得多。
How has Brandeis established itself as a leader in these areas? We are at the forefront at Brandeis International Business School because we can be nimble. Here you can make decisions and adjust curricula very quickly. This is one of the advantages of teaching at a private university. In terms of education, being among the first business schools to move into some of these disciplines, like FinTech, we have this brand recognition that comes from the first-mover status. And we know that there are a lot of unfilled jobs, a lot of demand. So it’s easier for our students to get hired, and through that, we’re establishing enduring relationships with many up-and-coming companies.
布兰迪斯是如何在这些领域确立自己的领导地位的？我们在布兰代斯国际商学院处于领先地位，因为我们可以很灵活。在这里你可以很快做出决定和调整课程。这是私立大学教学的优势之一。在教育方面，作为首批进入金融科技等学科的商学院之一，我们拥有来自先行者地位的品牌认可。我们知道有很多职位空缺，很多需求。因此，我们的学生更容易被录用，通过这一点，我们正在与许多新兴公司建立持久的关系。
