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Tech Tent: Minecraft and a botnet battle Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent @BBCRoryCJon Twitter Watch the latest Tech Tent episode online at the BBC website Download the most recent episode as a podcast Listen to past episodes on the BBC website Listen live every Friday at 14:00 GMT on the BBC World Service The top story on my podcast this week is about the cyberwarfare raging beneath the surface of a game whose main audience is 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 took control of thousands of connected devices to launch massive denial of service (DDoS), attacks against major websites last year. This caused panic about the security of Internet of Things. Brian Krebs, a security researcher and victim of those attacks, has published a comprehensive investigation into Mirai's history and the people who created 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. These attacks are used against very rich Minecraft servers and security protection providers. One of those on the receiving end was Robert Coelho, whose firm ProxyPipe helps clients deal with DDoS attacks. He told us that servers cannot be down for longer than 10 seconds. If that happens, players will go elsewhere while the server firms will look for other security providers. Coelho said that there are a lot "bad actors" in Minecraft. He explained that many servers are managed by people underage, and that money is involved so attacks are quite common.ADDICT GAMING Indeed, another striking thing about Brian Krebs' article is the youth of many of those involved in these online battles. Some of the most destructive and devastating attacks the world has witnessed have been launched by teenagers. I suspect they may consider this all a game. However, with the FBI on their case, they may find that there are serious consequences. Fake news is getting hit back at Europe We have covered the topic of fake news on Social Media in relation to the US Elections. However, this year's elections in France and Germany have raised the issue in Europe. Facebook announced plans to combat fake news in Germany this week. Correctiv, a small independent journalistic and fact-checking organization, will examine any articles flagged as questionable by readers. Correctiv's David Schraven informs me that we see that populists throughout Germany are using fake media to change the mood. Although he acknowledges the challenges facing his organization, he says that it is vital for democracy. "It is very important to make a good election decision and to be as informed as possible about truth in society. The European Commission's vice president Andrus Ansip, who's in charge of the Digital Single Market, admits there's a problem. But he says it's up to the social media platforms, not governments, to address it. "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 woes The mobile phone giant Samsung has had a torrid time over the last few months. After some of its Galaxy Note 7 phones caught on fire, Samsung had to remove the handset. (We will hear more about that when it unveils the results of its investigation into the problem on Monday). Now, it is involved in the corruption scandal that involves the South Korean President Park Geun Hye. JY Lee, the Samsung boss, was questioned by investigators about allegations of bribery to get support for a merger. Despite these crises, the company seems to sail on - with the Korean public not greatly disturbed about its conduct. Our man in Seoul, Steve Evans, is on the programme to tell us just how central Samsung is to the economy of South Korea. Its revenues amount to 17% of the country's GDP, and as well as mobile phones this vast industrial conglomerate is involved in everything from hospitals to funerals. Koreans really do encounter Samsung from the cradle to the grave.