Notes

Tech Tent: Minecraft and A Botnet Battle

Tech Tent: Minecraft and a botnet battle Rory Cellan-Jones Technology reporter @BBCRoryCJon Twitter



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My podcast's most talked-about story this week is Cyberwarfare, that is raging under the surface of a game that has a primary audience of children.



We also examine the fight against fake news in Europe and learn about how South Korean electronics giant Samsung was tainted in corruption scandal.



A botnet battle and Minecraft



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



Brian Krebs, a security researcher was one of the victims. He has published a comprehensive investigation into the origins of Mirai and the people behind it. This has taken him many months and is a brilliant piece of investigative journalism.



The most remarkable aspect of his story is that it was a battle over the popular educational game Minecraft which led to the massively disruptive DDoS attacks.



It turns out that such attacks are used against very lucrative Minecraft servers as well as the companies that offer them security protection. Robert Coelho, whose ProxyPipe helps clients deal with DDoS attacks was among the victims.



He added, "We can't have servers down more than 10 seconds simultaneously." If that happens, the players will leave the site, and servers will search for other security companies.



Coelho claims that there are a lot of bad actors in Minecraft. "Because many servers are run by children and there's a lot of money involved, attacks are very common."



Indeed, another striking thing about Brian Krebs' article is the youth of a lot of the people involved in these online fights.



Teenagers seem to have launched some of the most devastating and destructive attacks the world has ever witnessed. They might think it's an innocent game but with the FBI investigating the case, they might find serious consequences.



Europe bites back at fake news



We've discussed the issue of fake news on social media as it is related to the US elections, but with Germany and France having voted this year, it has moved up the agenda in Europe.



This week, Facebook announced plans to help fight fake news in Germany. Articles that are flagged by readers as suspicious will be looked at by a small independent investigative journalism and fact-checking organization called Correctiv.



"We find that populists across Germany are using fake news to change the mood of the people," David Schraven from Correctiv tells me. EXTREME CRAFT Although he acknowledges the challenges facing his organization, he says that it is vital for democracy. "It is vital to make a well-informed election decision and to be as well informed as you can about the truth of society.



Andrus Ansip (Vice President of the European Commission), is in charge for the Digital Single Market. He acknowledges that there is a problem. But he says it's the responsibility of to social media platforms, not the governments to address the issue. "Fake news is bad, but Ministry of Truth is worse", he told our reporter Joe Miller in Davos at the World Economic Forum.



He believes that if people don't trust the information they receive from platforms like Facebook or Twitter they will switch to other platforms, so the problem will be self-correcting. That could be an optimistic view of the value social media users put on accurate news.



Samsung's problems



The mobile phone giant Samsung has had a torrid time in the past few months. When some of its Galaxy Note 7 phones caught fire, the company had to take out the phone. (We will hear more about it when it announces the results of its investigation into the problem on Monday).



It is currently involved in the corruption scandal involving South Korean President Park Geun Hye.



Five Samsung executives, including boss JY Lee, have been questioned about allegations that bribes were paid to secure support for the merger.



Despite these issues, the company seems to be capable of operating like normal, with the Korean public not being worried about its business practices. Our host in Seoul, Steve Evans, is on the show to discuss how central Samsung is to the economics of South Korea. Its revenues amount to 17% of the country's GDP, and along with mobile phones, this huge industrial company is involved in everything from funerals to hospitals. Koreans are actually interacting with Samsung from the time they are born to the grave.


Homepage: https://extremecraft.de/