Tech Tent: Minecraft and a botnet war Rory C.Jones Technology reporter @BBCRoryCJon Twitter
You can stream the latest episode of Tech Tent on the BBC website.
Download the latest episode as a podcast
Watch previous episodes on the BBC website
Listen live every Friday at 14:00 GMT on the BBC World Service
My podcast's top story this week is Cyberwarfare, which is raging below the surface of a game with the primary target audience of children.
We also discuss Europe's battle with fake news, and learn how the South Korean electronics giant Samsung has been affected by a government corruption scandal.
A botnet battle and Minecraft
The Mirai botnet hacked thousands of connected devices to launch huge DDoS attacks (DDoS) against major websites last year . It also it sparked a major panic about the security of the Internet of Things.
One of the victims of those attacks, security researcher Brian Krebs, has published an extensive report on the nature of Mirai and the people behind it. This is an extraordinary piece of investigative journalism that took him several months to complete.
The most remarkable aspect of his story is that it was a war over the most popular game for education Minecraft which led to the hugely disruptive DDoS attacks.
These attacks are targeted against extremely lucrative Minecraft servers and companies that provide security protection. One of the people who were targeted was Robert Coelho, whose firm ProxyPipe assists clients in dealing with DDoS attacks.
He said, "We can't have servers down for more than 10 seconds at once." If this happens, players go elsewhere and the server companies look for new security companies.
"There's plenty of malicious players in Minecraft," Coelho explains, "because a lot of servers are operated by minors and there's lots of money involved, so attacks are frequent."
Another thing that stands out about Brian Krebs' article is the young age of many of the participants in these online fights.
Extremecraft
People in their teens seem to have carried out some of the most devastating and damaging attacks the world has seen. I suspect that they may think that this is just a game - but with the FBI investigating, they may find there are serious consequences.
Fake news is being attacked by Europe
We've previously discussed the issue of fake news on social media, particularly as it is related to the US elections however, with Germany and France having voted this year, it's moved up the agenda in Europe.
Facebook announced plans to fight fake news in Germany this week. 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 using fake news to alter the mood" Although he acknowledges the challenges that confront his organization, he insists that it is crucial for democracy. "It is crucial to make a sound election decision and to 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 social media platforms, not the governments to address the issue. "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 people don't trust what they read on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter they will move to other platforms which means that the issue will be self-correcting. This could be a positive sign of the importance that social media users place on accurate information.
Samsung's troubles
Samsung, the company that makes mobile phones has had a difficult few months. When some of its Galaxy Note 7 phones caught fire, it had to take out the phone. (We'll hear more about it Monday when it announces the results of its investigation into the issue.
It is currently involved in the corruption scandal that involved South Korean President Park Geun Hye.
Five Samsung executives, including the boss JY Lee were questioned by the company's board of directors about allegations that bribes were allegedly paid to secure support for the merger.
Despite these challenges, Samsung appears to be able to continue its business as usual, with Korean public not too concerned about its actions. Steve Evans, our man in Seoul, is on the program to talk about how important Samsung is to the economy of South Korea. The company's revenues make up 17% of the country's GDP and as well as mobile phones, this massive industrial conglomerate is involved in everything from funerals to hospitals. Koreans really do encounter Samsung from the beginning to the grave.
No comments yet