Notes

Tech Tent: Minecraft and A Botnet Battle

Tech Tent: Minecraft and a botnet war Rory C.Jones Technology correspondent @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 with the primary target audience of children.



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



A botnet battle and Minecraft



The Mirai botnet hacked thousands of connected devices to launch huge DDoS attacks (DDoS) against major websites in the last year. in the process sparked a major panic about the security of the Internet of Things.



Brian Krebs, a security researcher, was one of the victims. He has published an extensive investigation into the history of Mirai as well as the people who made it. This took him many months and is a brilliant piece of investigative journalism.



The story is fascinating because it was a battle for Minecraft which is a well-known educational game, that resulted in the massively disruptive DDoS attacks.



It turns out that such attacks are used against very lucrative Minecraft servers and the companies that provide them with security protection. Robert Coelho, whose ProxyPipe helps clients deal with DDoS attacks was one of the victims.



He added, "We can't have servers down more than 10 seconds at a time." If that happens, users go elsewhere and the servers look for alternative security providers.



"There's plenty of malicious actors in Minecraft," Coelho explains, "because a lot of servers are operated by underage users and there's a lot of money involved, which means that attacks are very frequent."
Server Stat


Brian Krebs' article also emphasizes the youth of many people who are involved in these online battles.



Teenagers seem to have carried out some of the most destructive and damaging attacks the world has seen. They might think it's just a game, but with the FBI investigating the case, they could discover serious consequences.



Fake news is getting attacked by Europe



We've previously discussed fake news on social media in relation to the US election. However now, with France and Germany casting their ballots this year it has pushed to the top of the European agenda.



Facebook announced plans to fight fake news in Germany this week. Articles that have been flagged by readers as dubious will be scrutinized by a small independent investigative journalism and fact-checking group called Correctiv.



"We observe that populists all over Germany are using fake news to change the mood of the people," David Schraven from Correctiv tells me. He acknowledges that his organization faces a daunting task, but he believes it is essential for the democratic process: "It's very important to make the right decision in an election, and to know as much as you can about the truth of 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 that it is the responsibility of social media platforms to deal with the issue, 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 users no longer believe what they read on platforms like Facebook or Twitter they will move to other platforms and the issue will self-correct. That could be an optimistic perception of the importance that social media users place on accurate news.



Samsung's problems



Samsung, the company that makes mobile phones has had a tough few months. The company first had to rescind its Galaxy Note 7 phone after several of them caught fire. (We will learn more about that when it unveils the results of its investigation into the issue on Monday).



It is now involved in the corruption scandal that involved South Korean President Park Geun Hye.



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



Despite these issues, Samsung appears to be capable of operating as usual, with Korean public not too concerned about its actions. Our correspondent in Seoul, Steve Evans, is on the show to explain how crucial Samsung is to the economy of South Korea. The company's revenue makes up 17 percent of South Korea's GDP. Samsung is a major industrial conglomerate that produces mobile phones and is involved in everything from funerals to hospitals. Koreans have become familiar with Samsung from the cradle until the grave.


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