Notes

Tech Tent: Minecraft and A Botnet Battle

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



You can stream the most recent episode of Tech Tent on the BBC website.



Listen to the podcast and download the newest episode



Listen to previous episodes on the BBC website



Listen live every Friday at 14.00 GMT on the BBC World Service



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



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



Minecraft and a botnet battle



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



One of the victims of those attacks, the security researcher Brian Krebs, has published an extensive report on the nature of Mirai and the people who were behind it. This is a stunning piece of investigative journalism and took him a long time to complete.



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



These attacks are used against highly lucrative Minecraft servers as well as companies who provide security. One of the people who were targeted was Robert Coelho, whose firm ProxyPipe assists clients in dealing with DDoS attacks.



He stated, "We can't have servers down for more than 10 seconds at once." If this happens, users will move elsewhere, while servers will search for other security companies.



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



One of the things that is striking about Brian Krebs' article is the young age of many of those involved in these online fights.



Teenagers appear to have carried out some of the most devastating and destructive attacks the world has witnessed. I'm sure they think that this is just playing games, but with the FBI on the case they may find there are serious consequences.
Lion Is The King Of The Jungle


Europe takes a swipe at fake news



We have previously covered fake information on social media with regards to the US election. However, with France and Germany having voted this year, it has moved up the European agenda.



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



Correctiv's David Schraven tells me that "we are aware that populists across Germany are employing fake news to influence the mood" While he acknowledges the issues that confront his organization, he believes that it is crucial for democracy. "It is crucial to make a good election decision and be as well informed as you can about truth in the world of.



Andrus Ansip (Vice President of the European Commission), is in charge for the Digital Single Market. He admits that there's an issue. But he says it's the responsibility of to the social media platforms, not the governments to address the issue. He also said that fake news is harmful however the Ministry of Truth is worse. This was his remark to Joe Miller at the World Economic Forum in Davos.



He thinks that if people do not trust the information they receive from platforms such as Facebook or Twitter they will switch to other platforms which means that the issue will be self-correcting. This could be a positive reflection of the importance that social media users place upon accurate news.



Samsung's troubles



The mobile phone giant Samsung has had a turbulent time over the last few months. It first had to pull its Galaxy Note 7 phone after some of them caught on fire. (We will hear more about that when it unveils the results of its investigation into the problem on Monday).



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



JY Lee JY Lee, the Samsung director, was interviewed by investigators regarding allegations of bribery in order to gain support for the merger.



Despite these challenges, the company seems to be going strong and the Korean public not being particularly concerned about its actions. Our man in Seoul, Steve Evans, is on the programme to explain how important Samsung is to the economy of South Korea. Samsung's revenue is 17% of the country's GDP, and along with mobile phones this vast industrial conglomerate is involved in everything from hospitals to funerals. Koreans have to deal with Samsung from the cradle to the grave.


Read More: https://lionsroar.name/