Notes

Tech Tent: Minecraft And A Botnet Battle

Tech Tent: Minecraft and a botnet battle Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent @BBCRoryCJon 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 battle against fake news, and learn how South Korean electronics giant Samsung was tainted with a scandal of government corruption.



A botnet battle and Minecraft



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



Now one of the victims of those attacks, the security researcher Brian Krebs, has published a major investigation into the origins of Mirai and the people behind it. This investigation took Brian Krebs many months, and it is a brilliant piece investigative journalism.



The most remarkable aspect of his story is the battle over Minecraft, an educational game that led to the disruptive DDoS attacks.



It turns out that these attacks are used against very profitable Minecraft servers and the security protection companies that offer them. Robert Coelho, whose ProxyPipe assists clients in dealing with DDoS attacks, was one of the victims.



He says, "We cannot have servers down for more that 10 seconds at a given time." This happens when players leave and the server companies look for other security solutions.



Coelho says that there are many bad actors in Minecraft. "Because a lot servers are run underage and there is a lot money involved, attacks are very common."



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



People in their teens seem to have launched some of the most devastating and damaging attacks the world has ever seen. I suspect that they may see this all as just a game - but with the FBI on the case they may find there are serious consequences.



Europe takes on fake news



We have covered fake news on Facebook as it relates to the US elections. But with France and Germany voting this election, it has moved up the agenda for Europe.



This week Facebook unveiled plans to help battle fake stories in Germany. Correctiv is an independent fact-checking and investigative journalism organization that will look into any articles readers flag as doubtful.
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Correctiv's David Schraven informs me that we see that populists throughout Germany are using fake media to change the mood. Although he admits that his organization faces a daunting task, he insists that it is essential for democracy. He says, "It's very important not only to make a good decision during an election but also to learn as much as you can about the truth in society."



Andrus, the vice president of European Commission, is in charge of the Digital Single Market. He says that the problem is up to social media platforms, and not governments, to solve. "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 people will leave social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter if they don't trust the information they see. This will cause problems that will eventually be solved. This could be an optimistic view of social media users' importance to accurate news.



Samsung's problems



The mobile phone giant Samsung has had a torrid time over the last few months. First it had to withdraw its Galaxy Note 7 phone after some of them caught fire. (We will learn more about that Monday when the company releases the results from its investigation into the issue.



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



JY Lee, the Samsung boss was among those being questioned about allegations of bribery in order to secure support for a merger.



Despite these crises the company seems to be able to continue its business as usual, with the Korean public not being too concerned about its conduct. Steve Evans, our man from Seoul, is here to discuss the importance of Samsung to South Korea's economic growth. Its revenues make up 17% of South Korea's GDP. This industrial conglomerate also makes mobile phones and is involved in everything, from hospitals to funerals. Koreans do come across Samsung from the cradle all the way to the grave.


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