The "Cyber Security Ecosystem Development Summit," organized for the seventh time this year by the Turkish Informatics Association, was held under the auspices of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority. The summit, themed "Design Your Future, Stay Safe," was attended by Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of Family and Social Services Yavuz Selim Kıran, and Turkish Informatics Association President Rahmi Aktepe.
In his opening speech at the summit, Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan stated that with the provision of services in electronic environments, the amount of data produced, stored, and transmitted has reached enormous dimensions. Sayan said, "Every second we provide internet connectivity, we carry cyber threat potential. In addition to cyber attacks carried out for economic reasons, there has been a significant increase in cyber attacks supported and targeted by governments as a result of the deteriorating geopolitical balance in the world, aiming to destabilize rival countries. In the cyber threat landscape over the past year, ransomware and DDoS attacks rank at the top, followed by threats to data security, social engineering attacks, disinformation attacks, supply chain attacks, and other malware."
Looking at the data on cyber attacks, Sayan noted, "We see that 70% of the individuals carrying out cyber attacks are outsiders, while the remaining 30% are insiders. In other words, on average, one out of every three cyber attacks is carried out by people connected to the attacked entity. Phishing attacks aimed at accessing users' sensitive and confidential information constitute more than 90% of cyber attacks."
Stating that the global cost of cybercrime exceeded 8 trillion dollars in 2023, Sayan expressed that these costs are projected to reach 10.5 trillion US dollars annually by 2025.
Sayan said, "It is recorded that data breaches in the last quarter of 2023 exposed more than 8 million user records worldwide. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report, cyber attacks rank as the second most concerning risk for the business world globally in the next 10 years."
Deputy Minister Sayan: Cyber Security is a National Security Issue
Emphasizing that cyber attacks are seen as the second most concerning risk for the business world globally in the next 10 years, Sayan stated, "In short, today cyber security is a national security issue. Before air, land, sea, or space wars, the cyber world is now the first front of war. We see critical infrastructures and networks being subjected to cyber attacks even before actual military interventions occur."
Stressing the necessity of immediate detection of cyber attacks when they occur, building virtual or physical barriers, and developing regional and national cyber security policies, Sayan said, "With the establishment of the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM) under the Information and Communication Technologies Authority in 2013, we took an important step for our organization in the field of cyber security. Subsequently, we ensured the establishment of cyber incident response teams in thousands of critical institutions and organizations across all sectors, from defense to communication, health to energy, finance to education."
Sayan stated, "The Cyber Incident Response Teams (SOME) network, which operates under USOM coordination to protect our institutions and critical infrastructures, is growing day by day. Today, we have around 2200 corporate and sectoral SOME teams, and the number of cyber security experts serving in our SOME teams is approaching 7500."
Saying that cyber security cannot be ensured only with local measures and requires coordination within a global integrity, Sayan said, "USOM, which participates not only in national but also international events, collaborates with many international organizations such as NATO and FIRST to share knowledge and experience in the cyber field. We maintain a strong presence in the global arena regarding cyber security."
Underlining that products to be used in critical infrastructures and cyber security fields must be domestically and nationally produced, Deputy Minister Sayan concluded his speech by saying, "If we cannot conduct the fight against cyber attacks end-to-end and in a way that controls the entire ecosystem, we cannot speak of full defense. For this reason, we are making intensive efforts for the domestication and nationalization of software and hardware used in cyber security and critical infrastructures and networks. As we always emphasize, we cannot be fully sure of the security of software and hardware we do not produce ourselves."
Deputy Minister Kıran: Women's Place in Technology is Indisputable
Deputy Minister of Family and Social Services Yavuz Selim Kıran also delivered a speech at the opening of the Cyber Security Ecosystem Development Summit. Kıran stated that cyber security is one of the key concepts of the change and transformation process the world is going through.
Describing the summit's collaboration between public, private, and civil society as an "exemplary model," Kıran said, "This summit also serves as the most important harbinger and expression of the efforts we will undertake in the coming period. In this regard, I believe that every topic discussed at the summit will guide us, especially as the public sector, in the upcoming period."
Stating that women's place in technology is indisputable, Kıran said, "Women's entrepreneurship provides great contributions to our country. As a ministry, we are making extremely important efforts to support women's entrepreneurship in technology and to strengthen women's roles."
Emphasizing that they also utilize technology's capabilities in effectively delivering social aid, Kıran stated that they attach great importance to developing digital literacy and spreading it to every segment of society.
Referring to how children used to play games with their peers in the past, Kıran concluded his speech by saying, "But now every one of our children is occupied with screens in front of them. Therefore, protecting our children from the threats posed by screens is everyone's responsibility. It is one of the most important sensitivities of our state, and we are aware of the responsibility and duty on us as a ministry regarding these sensitivities."