The winners of the 2nd Cyber Star Competition organized by BTK have been announced.
Among the participants in the Cyber Star competition, organized for the second time this year by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, the top 15 groups that scored the highest were awarded. The award ceremony was attended by Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Mehmet Cahit Turhan, Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, contestants, and many guests.
In his opening speech at the program, Minister Turhan stated that developments in information and communication technologies are eliminating borders between countries in every area from business life to daily life. Emphasizing that Turkey attaches special importance to investments in information and communication technologies, Turhan said, "Our goal is to become a society armed with knowledge in the meeting point of continents, in the basin of great civilizations. Only in this way do we build the Turkey of the future today and lead the world. We work 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to ensure that Turkey does not experience problems in the cyber field and that no citizen or institution is harmed. In this context, BTK also closely cooperates with relevant public institutions and organizations.”
Minister Turhan: Turkey Has Shown Significant Development in Cybersecurity
Minister Turhan explained that KamuNet, which aims to minimize cybersecurity risks, provide standards for existing and to-be-established secure closed-circuit solutions, and establish suitable infrastructure for common applications, has become a secure network with the participation of 135 institutions today. Stating that institutions meeting the minimum security requirements determined by the Ministry are included in the closed secure network and their data exchange between each other is provided securely, Turhan stated that ensuring cybersecurity will not be achieved only with measures taken in the public sector.
Minister Turhan: According to the Cybersecurity Index, Turkey Rose to 20th Place
Drawing attention to the fact that Turkey has shown very significant development in the field of cybersecurity in recent years, Turhan shared the information that "According to the data of the Global Cybersecurity Index used by the International Telecommunication Union to measure countries' maturity in cybersecurity, Turkey rose from 22nd to 11th place in Europe and from 43rd to 20th place worldwide among 175 countries."
Emphasizing that Turkey's leap in this field, leaving behind important countries such as Germany, Denmark, and Italy, is a great achievement, Turhan said that a special section was dedicated to the "Cyber Star Competition" in the International Telecommunication Union's "Global Cybersecurity Index" report and that the competition is shown among exemplary practices in the world. Minister Turhan stated that the Cyber Star Competition constitutes an important component of activities such as drills, competitions, and training aimed at building Turkey's cybersecurity capacity and developing its human resources, and added that the top 100 groups in the competition will receive practical cybersecurity training in the FETIH Cyber Training Ground Laboratory developed with BTK's own resources.
Deputy Minister Sayan: Cyber Star Competition Is an Important Step in Cyber Capacity Building
Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Sayan also spoke about the scale of cyberattacks in his speech. Pointing out that cyber threats have increased even more since 2008, Sayan said, “Cybersecurity has entered the agenda of all developed countries in addition to international organizations such as the European Union, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and NATO. The 2016-2019 National Cybersecurity Strategy and Action Plan was also an important step for our country. In parallel with these developments in the world, ensuring national cybersecurity has entered among the top priority issues in our country, and activities to combat cyber threats continue without slowing down.”
Sayan said, "Undoubtedly, there is no absolute security in the world. There are only opportunities, and only those who can turn these opportunities to their advantage achieve their goals. If we do not want to find ourselves in insecurity and uncertainty, we need to establish security for the entire society and common life. We continue our work in these areas without slowing down. I think the Cyber Star Competition is one of our most important activities in terms of capacity building. As you know, we organized the first Cyber Star Competition in 2017. In this competition, which received more than 27 thousand applications, we received demands not only from our country but from citizens from all over the world, from almost 7 to 70. As a result of the competition in question, we employed our successful friends at USOM.”
Referring to the contestants' participation in the Cyber Training Ground, Deputy Minister Sayan said, “Our laboratory provides participants with the opportunity to conduct one-on-one cybersecurity tests and improve themselves in this regard. I believe that our friends who participate here will elevate their talents to higher levels, provide important services to our country, and contribute to our national cybersecurity. We see cybersecurity as a part of our national security. As in every field related to national security, developing and using domestic and national products, resources, and methods in ensuring our national cybersecurity is of utmost importance.”
Sayan particularly emphasized that one of the issues that cybersecurity should address is international cooperation, saying, “The borderless nature of cyberspace makes international cooperation necessary in this field. For this reason, Turkey closely follows the work of international organizations such as the UN, NATO, OSCE, OECD, G20, FIRST, TI, and CAMP and actively contributes to these efforts. We are pleased to see that our efforts to ensure national cybersecurity and our international cooperation activities are now making an impact worldwide. I believe that with our intensively ongoing efforts, we will take our country even higher.”
President Karagözoğlu: We Are Increasing Our Capacity to Respond to Cyber Incidents by Enhancing Our Technological Capabilities
BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu emphasized that the risks brought by information and communication technologies have become a part of daily life. Karagözoğlu said, “While individuals, companies, critical infrastructures, and states face serious cyber threats, cyberattacks are increasing day by day. Therefore, allocating more resources to combat cyber incidents is becoming an important issue. We are working to develop our capacity to respond to cyber incidents by increasing our technological capabilities through activities aimed at detecting and preventing cyber incidents before they occur.”
President Karagözoğlu: We Are Working to Close the Expert Gap in the Field
Karagözoğlu said, “As we emphasize at every opportunity, our sole motto will be domestic and national production. As you know, with the 'National Technology Move' initiated by our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which will take us to the 2023 vision, we are advancing confidently and steadily on the path of becoming a producing rather than consuming country in information technologies, which is the most important power source of today, with domestic and national products and young, brilliant minds that will develop them. As Turkey, we are making bilateral cooperation agreements with various countries in the field of cybersecurity and we will continue to do so. I think that joint efforts against malicious software, cooperation in investigations regarding cybercriminals, organization of joint cybersecurity drills, and cyber intelligence and information sharing will make great contributions to making our countries' cyber domains more secure.”
President Karagözoğlu concluded his speech by saying, “It is clear that one of the most important resources in ensuring national cybersecurity is trained human resources. In this framework, we are taking the necessary steps rapidly and the required actions to train qualified experts and close the cybersecurity expert gap in our country.”
After the speeches, the 15 groups received their awards and certificates.