Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, attended the Ankara Public Security Summit organized by Palo Alto Networks. The summit, where the latest developments in information and communication technologies and risks in the field of cybersecurity were discussed, saw intense participation.
Speaking at the organized summit, Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu stated that information and communication technologies have become more critical than ever before. Karagözoğlu said, “In our country, parallel to the world, interest in ICT and electronic communications sector is increasing day by day. Investments and efforts in the ICT sector continue without slowing down. In this context, there are 97 technoparks in our country, including those planned to become operational soon. Approximately 9,000 companies operate in these technoparks, while more than 93,000 personnel are employed. A significant portion of these personnel conduct value-adding R&D activities.”
President Karagözoğlu: As Our Lives Become More Digital, the Cyber Attack Risk Grows Proportionally
Emphasizing that cybersecurity has gained importance with digitalization, Karagözoğlu stated, “As our lives become more digital, the risk of cyber attacks and the danger of data theft grow proportionally. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2020, cyber attacks rank as the second most concerning risk for the global business world in the 10-year period we are in. Globally, more than 1 million cyber attacks are carried out every year. This means a cyber attack occurs almost every 39 seconds. Today, phishing attacks aimed at accessing users' sensitive and confidential information account for more than 90% of cyber attacks.”
Emphasizing the critical importance of detecting and preventing cyber attacks, Karagözoğlu said, “Reducing the impacts of cyber threats, developing national capabilities, creating a more secure national cybersecurity environment, and positioning our country at the highest international levels in cybersecurity are among our most important goals. Naturally, cybersecurity is the issue that takes up the most of our time. The National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM), located within our institution, works 7/24 together with Sectoral Cyber Incident Response Teams (SOME) and Institutional SOMEs within institutions to develop cybersecurity awareness nationwide, conduct alarm, warning, and notification activities to prevent cyber threats, take control of incidents with on-site intervention teams in critical situations, and ensure national coordination in cyber incident response, in order to protect our cybersecurity.”
Karagözoğlu stated, “As of February 2024, 14 Sectoral SOMEs and 2,212 Institutional SOMEs operating under USOM coordination, along with 7,501 cybersecurity experts working there, are conducting activities to protect our country's cyber domain.”
Stating that they continue cyber security exercises to improve preparedness and response capabilities for cyber incidents, Karagözoğlu said, “Since 2011, in collaboration with our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, we have conducted 7 national and 2 international cybersecurity exercises to increase preparedness levels and incident response capabilities for cyber incidents both at the institutional/organizational level and nationally. Additionally, our institution participates in and contributes to various international cybersecurity and crisis management exercises such as NATO Locked Shields, NATO Cyber Coalition, and NATO Crisis Management Exercise. Of course, while doing all this, we act with the awareness of domestic and national production. In all our cybersecurity efforts, we use software such as Avcı, Azad, and Kasırga, which are entirely produced with our institution's internal resources. At this point, we expect all our stakeholders to continue their work with the same sensitivity.” He concluded his speech with these words.