Notes

Tech Tent: Minecraft and A Botnet Battle

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



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The top story on my podcast this week is about the cyberwarfare that is raging beneath the surface of a game whose main target audience is children.



We also look at Europe's battle with fake news, and learn how the South Korean electronics giant Samsung is tainted by a corruption scandal involving the government.



A botnet battle and Minecraft



The Mirai botnet hijacked thousands of connected devices to launch massive attacks of denial of service (DDoS) against major websites in the last year. in the process sparked a major panic about the security of the Internet of Things.
https://minecraftservers.vip/


Now one of the victims of those attacks, security researcher Brian Krebs, has published an extensive report on the origins of Mirai and the people who were behind it. This is a stunning piece of investigative journalism, and took him several months to complete.



His story is remarkable because it was a fight for Minecraft an educational game, which caused the massively disruptive DDoS attacks.



These attacks are targeted at extremely lucrative Minecraft servers and businesses that provide security protection. One of those who were targeted was Robert Coelho, whose firm ProxyPipe assists clients to deal with DDoS attacks.



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



Coelho claims that there are a lot of bad actors in Minecraft. "Because the majority of servers are run by minors and there is a lot money involved, it's extremely common."



Brian Krebs' article also highlights the youth of many participants in these online fights.



It seems some of the most devastating and devastating attacks that the world has witnessed were launched by people still in their teens. They might think it's a game, but with the FBI investigating the matter, they could discover serious consequences.



Fake news is getting attacked at Europe



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



This week, Facebook announced plans to help battle fake stories in Germany. Correctiv is a small independent organization for fact-checking and journalism will scrutinize any story that are deemed to be suspect by readers.



"We find that populists all over Germany are using fake news to alter the mood of the population," David Schraven from Correctiv tells me. He acknowledges that the organization faces a huge task but insists that it's essential for democracy: "It's very important to make a sound decision during an election, and to know the most accurate information about the truth in the society."



Andrus Ansip (Vice President of the European Commission), is in charge for the Digital Single Market. He acknowledges that there is a problem. He said it's the responsibility of social media platforms to deal with the problem, not governments. "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 believe the information they receive from platforms like Facebook or Twitter, they will move elsewhere. The problem will then be self-correcting. This could be a positive view of the value social media users place on accurate news.



Samsung's woes



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



Now it has been implicated in the corruption scandal involving the South Korean President Park Geun Hye.



JY Lee, the Samsung boss, was questioned by investigators over allegations of bribery to obtain support for the merger.



Despite these challenges Samsung seems to be thriving and the Korean public not particularly upset about its conduct. Steve Evans, our man in Seoul is on the program to explain how important Samsung is to South Korea's economy. Samsung's revenue is 17 percent of the country's GDP, and in addition to mobile phones, this huge industrial company is involved in everything from hospitals to funerals. Koreans have become familiar with Samsung from the time of its birth until the end of time.


My Website: https://minecraftservers.vip/