BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, at the program titled “The City's Big Data and Cybersecurity” he attended in Istanbul, drew attention to the fact that cybersecurity is also increasing along with developing technology.
Information Technologies and Communication Authority President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan served as moderator at the program titled “The City's Big Data and Cybersecurity” organized by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality at the Yenikapı Eurasia Show and Art Center. Alongside President Sayan in the program were names such as Deputy General Manager of Communication from the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Gündüz Şengül, IBM General Manager Defne Tozan, and Microsoft General Manager Murat Kansu. In the program attended by nearly 100 speakers, how smart cities will shape the future was discussed.
Speaking in the first session of the program and stating that digital transformation has engulfed the entire world, BTK President Sayan said, “Digital technologies centered on computer hardware, software, mobile devices, and communication networks are not new. Their convergence and interaction in physical, digital, and biological spheres herald major developments unlike anything we have witnessed before. The information and communication technologies sector, at the center of technological developments, has not only become a sector in its own right but has also turned into the main actor of development and growth in other sectors, becoming the most important area of the digital transformation era.”
Stating that the data volume will increase by 4300% in 2020 compared to today, Sayan shared, “It is estimated that 90% of the world's digital data pool has emerged in the last three years, that 5.2 terabytes of information will be produced per person in 2020, and that a total of 40 zettabytes of data will be in circulation. Today in the world, there are 5 billion mobile phones, 2 billion internet users, 66 billion sensors in the devices/objects we use, and 13 billion security incidents monitored using video/digital/IT technologies. For this reason, 'Big Data' can be seen as one of the most powerful IT assets of our time. Today, the Internet of Things extends from small household appliances to smart cities, and the data generated here appears as big data.”
INTERNET OF THINGS HAS BECOME INDISPENSABLE IN OUR LIVES
Emphasizing that the concept of the Internet of Things has become an indispensable part of our lives, President Sayan said, “Physical objects surrounding almost every moment of our lives are enriching our lives and turning them into an information ecosystem. In the near future, every object around us will be equipped with a sensor and become part of human existence. IoT will not only affect individual and daily life but will also change and transform the business world. While it offers unlimited imagination, it will also create endless opportunities. This great change will be felt in all sectors. We can say that it particularly offers a fundamental structural change opportunity in the production sector similar to the industrial revolution. Every device and equipment used is becoming more digital and more connected.”
Drawing attention to the fact that machines provide much more power and energy, Sayan provided the following information: “It is predicted that 1.9 billion smart home devices will be in use by 2019. Considering these figures, we can say that a potential revenue of approximately 490 billion dollars will be achieved. On the other hand, while 968 thousand smart clothing reached consumers in 2015, this number is expected to rise to 24.75 billion by 2021. One of the concepts that best describes the place of technology in our daily lives is actually smart cities. When smart city is mentioned, it comes to mind that the city determines its own needs, takes the necessary steps to realize its requests accordingly, and behaves like a living being.”
SMART CITY CONCEPT WILL FACILITATE PEOPLE'S LIVES
Stating that smart street lights and traffic monitoring sensors are used in various cities around the world to facilitate the lives of pedestrians and cyclists, Sayan said, “These applications, which require investments at the millions of dollars level, aim to facilitate the lives of city people within the scope of the smart city concept. It is expected that more than 25 world cities will transform into 'smart' cities by 2025. This also gives us signals that a market worth 1.565 trillion dollars will form by 2020. On the other hand, it is also a fact that the more we use technology, the more dependent we become on it. This means we are more exposed to the risks it brings. Individuals, companies, critical infrastructures, and states are under serious cyber threats. Ensuring cybersecurity is no longer just a need to eliminate dangers in areas where technology is intensively used.”
Stating that cybersecurity has also become a part of National Security, Sayan said, “While focusing on how new technologies will make our lives easier on one hand and how to make these technologies more accessible on the other, we need to think about how to ensure the security of these new technologies and take steps accordingly. While BTK fulfills its regulatory duties towards the electronic communications sector in our country on one hand, it continues its activities to ensure national cybersecurity as per the duties and responsibilities assigned to it on the other. Within the scope of the cybersecurity organization established in 2013, we continue to fulfill our duties in this field at an increasing pace in the best way possible.”
USOM HAS BECOME ALMOST A WORLD BRAND
Stating that they aim to take USOM further, Sayan provided the following information about its duties: “As a result of these studies, USOM is becoming almost a world brand and continues to perform important functions for the development of our country's cybersecurity ecosystem. It conducts alarm, warning, and notification activities to prevent cyber threats, takes control of incidents with on-site intervention teams in critical situations, and continues its activities to ensure national coordination in cyber incident response. USOM, equipped with malware analysis and digital forensics capabilities, has achieved significant gains in the employment and training of expert personnel in this field. Activities such as incident response, digital log examination, and penetration testing conducted by USOM personnel in many of our critical institutions have gained momentum. Undoubtedly, when it comes to cybersecurity, reaching the right information and sharing this information with the right person or institution at the right place and time is of great importance.”
Stating that USOM operates in coordination with sectoral and institutional SOMEs, Sayan said, “If we consider the two-way information flow between USOM and SOME, notifying USOM immediately of malicious software, cyber attacks, and vulnerabilities detected by SOMEs is an important part of the cybersecurity equation. At this point, national coordination is ensured regarding malicious software, cyber attacks, and vulnerabilities reported from SOMEs to USOM, and other SOMEs and institutions are informed so that permanent and fundamental measures are taken nationwide by the relevant parties. I would like to share with you that the number of Cyber Incident Response Teams, or SOMEs, which was 544 at the end of 2016, has now reached 878. Within the scope of studies conducted by USOM, the SIP (SOME Communication Platform) Project, which ensures the secure and fast sharing of cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and attacks between USOM and SOMEs, was launched in 2017 and has started to be actively used. And there are 2,092 registered cybersecurity experts using this SIP system.”
Also sharing that reports come to USOM from many different countries, Sayan said, “The most important activities we carry out as USOM under BTK are to transmit the threats and vulnerabilities detected by our advanced cybersecurity experts to the relevant institutions along with the measures to be taken. USOM transmits both the cyber threat intelligence obtained from relevant stakeholders and the cyber threat intelligence detected and produced by our experts assuming the threat hunter role here to the relevant parties in the fastest way. In 2017, cybersecurity notifications were made by official letter to nearly 1,550 Institutions/Organizations/Businesses. Also in 2017, 1,567 vulnerability notifications that needed to be addressed critically and urgently were made to institutions and organizations. In addition, more than 1,500 vulnerabilities were detected in the internet-facing services of institutions and organizations and transmitted to the relevant parties along with the measures to be taken. 16,736 malicious links (URL, IP, domain) used in malware and phishing were detected, checked, and access was blocked at the infrastructure level. This figure was recorded as 490 until 2017, and in 2017, there was approximately a 16-fold increase in the number of announced malicious links compared to the total of previous years.”
Reminding that applications named HUNTER, AZAD, and KASIRGA are actively used in detecting malware command servers, compromised systems, and malware-infected systems, Sayan said, “As a result of these studies, 60 BotNet command and control servers targeting individuals and institutions in our country from abroad were detected and blocked, and compromised information belonging to our citizens was obtained from 29 of these command servers. As a result, information of more than 5,000 mobile phone owners infected with malware was obtained from cyber attackers' command and control servers, identification of the relevant persons was made, and sharing was done with banks through BDDK, preventing victimization. Within this scope, in 2017, 16 million IPs in our country were scanned at various intervals to detect vulnerabilities published by product and software developers, and detections related to more than 30,000 systems and the measures to be taken were shared with infrastructure operators and data center providers for the information of institutions and persons.”
CYBERSECURITY HAS GONE BEYOND INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL
Reminding that cybersecurity needs to be increased both institutionally and individually, Sayan said, “Increasing the awareness level to a sufficient level of consciousness and knowledge ensures that the fight against cyber threats is carried out more effectively and efficiently. On the other hand, today cybersecurity has become an important agenda item for states beyond being individual or institutional. Countries conduct their studies in the field of cybersecurity largely in secrecy. The potential damage parties can inflict on each other in the event of a possible cyber war frightens even the most advanced countries in this field, leading to the search for stronger capabilities and opportunities. In this context, as BTK, we are determined and resolute to enhance all kinds of capabilities and opportunities for our country's cybersecurity, in coordination with our stakeholders both in the public sector and private sector, as well as international stakeholders.” He concluded his speech with these words.
The event, which will feature experts in the field and last for 3 days, will include workshops and 12 panels.