Notes

Tech Tent: Minecraft and A Botnet Battle

Tech Tent: Minecraft and a botnet war Rory C.Jones Technology correspondent @BBCRoryCJon on Twitter



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My podcast's top story this week is Cyberwarfare which is raging below the surface of a game that has a primary audience of children.



We also examine Europe's fight against fake news, and hear the story of how South Korean electronics giant Samsung has been tainted by a corruption scandal involving the government.



Minecraft and a botnet battle



The Mirai botnet took control of thousands of connected devices to launch massive denial of service (DDoS) attacks on major websites in the last year. This led to panic over the security of Internet of Things.



Brian Krebs, a security researcher was among the victims. He has published an extensive investigation into the history of Mirai as well as the people who created it. This was a remarkable piece of investigative journalism that took him a long time to complete.



The story is fascinating because it was a fight for Minecraft an educational game, which led to the massively disruptive DDoS attacks.



These attacks are used against highly lucrative Minecraft servers and businesses who provide security. One of those who were targeted was Robert Coelho, whose firm ProxyPipe assists clients in dealing with DDoS attacks.



He tells us: "We can't have servers down for more than 10 seconds at a single time." If this happens, users will move elsewhere, while servers firms will look for other security providers.



"There's a lot of bad actors in Minecraft," Coelho explains, "because a lot of servers are operated by minors and there's lots of money involved so attacks are frequent."



One of the things that is striking about Brian Krebs' article is the youthfulness of a lot of the people involved in these online fights.



It appears that some of the most destructive and devastating attacks that the world has witnessed were launched by those who are still in their teens. They might think that this is just a game however, with the FBI investigating the case, they might discover grave consequences.



Fake news is being attacked at Europe



We've previously discussed fake information on social media in relation to the US election. However now, with France and Germany casting their ballots this year the issue has been moved up the European agenda.



This week, Facebook unveiled plans to help battle fake stories in Germany. Articles flagged by readers as dubious will be looked at by a small independent investigative journalism and fact-checking organisation known as Correctiv.



"We observe that populists all over Germany are using fake news to change the mood of the populace," David Schraven from Correctiv tells me. He admits that his organisation has a lot to do but he believes it is essential for democracy: "It's very important to make a good decision in an election, to be aware as much as you can about the truth about the society."



The European Commission's vice president Andrus Ansip who is in charge of the Digital Single Market, admits there's an issue. He said it's the responsibility of social media platforms to tackle the problem, not governments. "Fake news is bad but Ministry of Truth is worse" said our reporter Joe Miller in Davos at the World Economic Forum.



He believes that if people don't trust what they see on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter they will go to another platform. The problem will then be self-correcting. This could be a positive reflection of the importance social media users place upon accurate news.



Samsung's problems



Samsung, the mobile phone manufacturer has had a tough few months. The company first had to rescind its Galaxy Note 7 phone after some of them caught on fire. (We'll learn more about the issue Monday when it releases the results of its investigation into this problem.
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The company has now been implicated in the corruption scandal that involved the South Korean President Park Geun Hye.



Five Samsung executives, including boss JY Lee has been questioned over allegations of bribes being paid to gain support for the merger.



Despite these issues, the company seems to be in a position to continue its business as usual, with the Korean public not being worried about its business practices. Steve Evans, our man in Seoul will be on the show to discuss how crucial Samsung is to the economy of South Korea. The company's revenue makes up 17% of South Korea's GDP. The company also produces mobile phones and is involved in all sorts of things, from hospitals to funerals. Koreans have become familiar with Samsung from the cradle until the end of time.


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