COMPUTING & GAMING

Your WIRED  daily briefing. Today, the Germany Interior Ministry says that a secure communications network was breached, the European Food Safety Authority confirms neonicotinoid pesticides' threat to bees, Spotify has filed to go public on the New York Stock Exchange and more. 1. Germany investigates Russia-linked cyberattack German security services are investigating a cyberattack against a government network, which anonymous sources have said was carried out by the Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear or APT28 ( Deutsche Welle ). The Germany Interior Ministry did not comment on the origin of the cyberattack, but said: "We can confirm that the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and intelligence services are investigating a cybersecurity incident concerning the federal government's information technology and networks." The hackers are reported to have gained access to the government's secure Informationsverbund Berlin-Bonn (IVBB) ...

Excerpts: Chrono Trigger just got a surprise release on Steam One of the greatest role-playing games of all time is now available on PC. Today, Square Enix unexpectedl...

Your WIRED  daily briefing. Today, several days of above-freezing Arctic temperatures have raised concern among climate scientists, the Chinese government is censoring social media criticism of a proposed presidential term limit removal, the Moon is getting its first mobile network in 2019 and more. 1. Soaring Arctic temperatures fuel Europe-wide snowstorms The blizzards currently sweeping Europe are the result of an Arctic heatwave that has seen temperatures in the frozen north rise above freezing for ten days, reaching 6.1 degrees Celcius last Sunday ( The Guardian ). Ruth Mottram of the Danish Meteorological Institute told The Guardian : "Spikes in temperature are part of the normal weather patterns – what has been unusual about this event is that it has persisted for so long and that it has been so warm. Going back to the late 1950s at least we have never seen such high temperatures in the high Arctic." Scientists have expressed concerns that a weakening ...

Excerpts: Into the Breach turns mech vs. kaiju battles into a game of sci-fi chess Into the Breach is a turn-based strategy game, along the lines of the Advance Wars ...

Your WIRED  daily briefing. Today, a counter-extremism outreach project funded by Facebook attempted deradicalisation via Messenger, Norway is upgrading its doomsday seed vault, Microsoft is going to the Supreme Court to defend against US government efforts to seize overseas data and more. 1. Facebook funded a counter-extremism outreach project Facebook has revealed that it funded a pilot scheme run by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue to confront users expressing far-right extremist views on the social network ( BBC News ). The ISD used software to scan both European nationalist and Islamist extremist pages for likely targets, and then manually checked their profiles for "violent, dehumanising and hateful language". Likely candidates for counter-radicalisation were then contacted by one of 11 "intervention providers" including former extremists, survivors of terrorism or trained counsellors. They contacted 569 people, managed to have conversation...

Excerpts: These relaxing adventures are a peaceful getaway from the real world When people talk about escapism in video games, they usually mean huge, sprawling worlds...

Your WIRED  daily briefing. Today, unnamed US intelligence operatives say the Russian government was behind hacking attacks at the Winter Olympics, Samsung's new Galaxy S9 focusses on camera quality, faulty hardware affected readings from major optical telescopes including Hubble, and more. 1. Anonymous US officials accuse Russia of hacking the Olympics Members of the USA's intelligence services, speaking anonymously to the Washington Post have alleged that cyberattacks carried out against systems at South Korea's Winter Olympics were carried out by Russian intelligence services and that they were a "false-flag" attack designed to pin the blame on North Korea ( Gizmodo ). The report elaborates on suspicions of Russian involvement in a cyberattack affecting the Games' opening ceremony earlier this month , rumoured to be a response to a state-run doping scandal that saw Russia banned from the Winter Olympics. However, South Korean officials have...