[Annotated] A young hacker spooks the German establishment

The government is belatedly^[각주:1] beefing up^[각주:2] its prevention measures^[각주:3]

In the end, God turned out to be a 20-year-old amateur hacker living with his parents in a small western German town. Throughout December God, or "G0d", to give him his proper Twitter handle, had leaked the phone numbers, addresses and, in some cases, private photos and credit-card details of nearly 1,000 German politicians, celebrities and journalists. For weeks no one noticed. But panic set in once the news emerged on January 3rd. Was this an expert group of cyber-anarchists hell-bent on^[각주:4] destroying the system? Was it the handiwork of^[각주:5] Vladimir Putin? 

In fact the culprit^[각주:6], arrested in the town of Homberg (Ohm) on January 6th, turned out to be a determined "script kiddie" (slang for a hacker who^[각주:7] uses code written by others), apparently acting alone. He seems to have obtained the data by guessing passwords, cracking address books^[각주:8] and so on. Asked to explain his motivation, he told police that he was "annoyed" by politicians. (Apart from those of the far-right Alternative for Germany, whom he spared.) 

Germany is still a laggard in^[각주:9] cybersecurity, says Matthias Schulze at the German Institute for International and Security Policy (SWP), a think-tank. So it must often turn abroad for help. A more serious attack, probably steered from Moscow^[각주:10], on the Bundestag's servers in 2015 was cleared up with^[각주:11] British help; this time German officials reportedly^[각주:12] turned to American experts. Yet it has been catching up^[각주:13]. Germany's cyber-security strategy has been revised^[각주:14], funds are flowing, agencies are to be beefed up and the army is building up cyber-offensive capabilities. A planned cyber-security bill will now be brought forward to^[각주:15] the first half of 2019. 

Some politicians have urged a more muscular response to^[각주:16] the December attacks. Yet the true lessons are more mundane^[각주:17]. First, even relatively unskilled amateurs working alone can cause serious disruption^[각주:18]. There was little of consequence in the leaked material but, in the wrong hands, phone numbers and addresses can be used for mischief^[각주:19]. Second, the multitude of agencies working on^[각주:20] cyber-security creates vulnerabilities and confused lines of responsibility^[각주:21]. And third, Germans need to get better at minding their yards. Many victims used passwords like "123456" or "iloveyou"; classic examples of poor cyber-hygiene^[각주:22]. Cleanliness^[각주:23], after all, is next to Godliness^[각주:24]. 

1. belatedly ; [부사] 늦게 ; 뒤늦게 ; 시대에 뒤지게. [본문으로]
2. beef up ; [동사] 강화하다, 보강하다. ; 유의어 strengthen, increase. [본문으로]
3. prevention measure ; 예방조치, 예방책, 방지책 [본문으로]
4. hell-bent ; 1. (서술 용법) 어찌 되었건 (…할) 작정으로 있는(for, on, on doing, to do). [본문으로]
5. handiwork ; [U] 1. (특히 예술적 솜씨를 발휘한) 일[작품] ;; 2. (특히 나쁜) 짓[소행] ;; [NOUN] You can refer to something that you have done or made yourself as your handiwork. [본문으로]
6. culprit ; 1. 범인 ;; 2. (문제를 일으킨) 장본인 ;; [NOUN] [usu the N] When you are talking about a crime or something wrong that has been done, you can refer to the person who did it as the culprit. [본문으로]
7. slang for ; …에 대한 속어. [본문으로]
8. address book ; 1. 주소록 ;; 2. (컴퓨터 파일로 된) 주소록 ;; [NOUN] An address book is a book in which you write people's names and addresses. [본문으로]
9. be a laggard in ; ~ 에 느리다, 뒤쳐지다 [본문으로]
10. steer ; [타동사] 2. (일정 방향으로) …을 향하게 하다, 나아가게 하다[to, into]; …을 안내하다, 인도하다[through]. [본문으로]
11. clear up sth ; (문제 등을) 해결하다, 풀다 [본문으로]
12. reportedly ; [부사] 전하는 바에 따르면, 소문에 의하면 ;; [ADV] If you say that something is reportedly true, you mean that someone has said that it is true, but you have no direct evidence of it. [본문으로]
13. catch up ; 2. (정도나 수준이 앞선 것을) 따라잡다 [본문으로]
14. revise ; 1. [타동사][VN] (의견·계획을) 변경[수정]하다 ; [VERB] If you revise the way you think about something, you adjust your thoughts, usually in order to make them better or more suited to how things are. [본문으로]
15. bring forward a claim to... ; ...의, ~에 관한 요구를 제출하다, [본문으로]
16. muscular ; 3. (표현·성격 따위가) 박력있는(vigorous). ;; 5. [구어] 강력한. [본문으로]
17. mundane ; [형용사] (흔히 못마땅함) 재미없는, 일상적인 ; 유의어 dull, ordinary ;; [ADJ] Something that is mundane is very ordinary and not at all interesting or unusual. ; 미국∙영국 [mʌnˈdeɪn] [본문으로]
18. disruption ; 1. 붕괴; 분열; 중단, 두절; 혼란 ;; 2. 분열[붕괴]된 상태 ;; [NOUN] When there is disruption of an event, system, or process, it is prevented from continuing or operating in a normal way. [본문으로]
19. mischief ; 2. [U] 해악(harm), 해독; [UC/] 손해, 재해, 화(禍), 위해(危害); 악영향; [C] (신체·기계 등의) 고장 ;; 미국∙영국 [ˈmɪstʃɪf] [본문으로]
20. multitude ; [U]다수; [C]군중, 많은 사람; [the multitude]대중, 서민 ;; [NOUN] [QUANT of pl-n] A multitude of things or people is a very large number of them. [본문으로]
21. line ; 8. (종종 lines) (행위·정책 등의) 방침, 주의; 방향, 노선, 경향. ;; 9. (종종 the line) 진행 방향, 진로, 길; (연락·정보 등의) 선[on]. [본문으로]
22. hygiene ; 2. [속어] (컴퓨터) (바이러스에 대한) 예방 조치, 대항 수단. [본문으로]
23. cleanliness ; [U]청결; 깨끗함; 깨끗한 것을 좋아하기 ;; [NOUN] Cleanliness is the degree to which people keep themselves and their surroundings clean [본문으로]
24. godliness ; [명사] 신의 계율[뜻]에 순종함; 신앙심 깊음, 독실함. ;; 본문에서는 해당 해커의 아이디에 대한 메타포를 품은 표현 [본문으로]