BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan spoke at the ICANN 5th Middle East DNS Forum. Sayan discussed the importance of further developing the DNS industry in the Middle East region.
Hosted by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK), the Middle East DNS Forum, organized for the fifth time this year by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (ICANN), was attended by BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, ICANN Middle East Global Stakeholder Engagement Vice President Baher Esmat, ICANN Global Stakeholder Engagement Vice President Sally Costerton, and representatives from various sectors in many countries.
Stating that the program would discuss the latest developments in the global domain names sector and what needs to be done to further develop the DNS industry in the Middle East region, President Sayan began his speech by saying, “We are proud to host this event at BTK, where we will have the opportunity to get first-hand information from local and foreign experts on various topics related to DNS, from security to personal data protection, from experiences in geographic domain names to the rights of domain owners.”
Noting that Turkey has a strong position among Middle Eastern countries in terms of the domain names sector, Sayan said, “Currently, nearly 400,000 ‘.tr’ extension domain names have been allocated. 80% of these names consist of ‘com.tr’ extensions. In addition, there are 6 accredited registrar organizations operating in our country by ICANN. The ‘.istanbul’ and ‘.ist’ extension domain names, which are among the new generic top-level domain names, have reached approximately 25,000 allocations despite being allocated for only 3 years, swelling our chests with pride as a success story.”
OUR TARGET IS BROADBAND FOR EVERYONE
Reminding that the internet provides very important contributions to sustainable growth, innovation, and development, Sayan provided the following information about the 2023 strategic vision: “We also have targets such as transforming into a knowledge-based society, becoming an international center in the field of information and communication technologies, and providing broadband access for everyone. Despite all the difficulties we have experienced in our country in recent history, our internet usage trends have always been on the rise in a pleasing manner. Ensuring the security of the internet is as much a priority task for BTK as making it fast and uninterrupted for our continuously developing internet industry and our high number of internet users.”
TECHNOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURES ESTABLISHED TO PREVENT CYBER THREATS
Providing information about USOM, which operates under BTK, President Sayan stated, “We have also established corporate SOME structures so that organizations, especially sectors with critical infrastructure in the public and private sectors, can make instant and accurate interventions. Currently, there are 2,186 personnel working in cyber incident response teams coordinated with USOM in a total of 919 institutions and organizations in our country. Technological infrastructures have been established within our Institution to quickly detect and take measures against threats in cybersecurity.”
Stating that BTK would host a DNS Abuse Training aimed at investigating the misuse of DNS with the contributions of ICANN's Vice President for Security, Mr. Dave Piscitello, during the continuation of the event, Sayan emphasized that USOM attaches great importance to the security of DNS, which is of critical importance, and added: “To date, 17,246 malicious links (URL, IP, domain name) used in malware and phishing have been detected, checked, and measures have been taken at the infrastructure level in coordination with internet service providers. This figure was 490 until 2017, and in 2017, there was an approximately 16-fold increase in the number of malicious links announced compared to the total of previous years. Thus, attacks on internet users and systems nationwide have been prevented.”
Drawing attention to the increase in threats and attacks targeting DNS infrastructures worldwide in recent years, Sayan said, “The most notable of these is the cyber attack on the DNS infrastructure in the US by incorporating internet-connected devices into the Mirai ‘botnet’ in October 2016. This attack affected the internet worldwide to a large extent and caused economic and social losses. DDoS attacks on DNS infrastructures disrupted service continuity and made the internet virtually inaccessible. It once again showed the whole world how critical these infrastructures are. I want to emphasize that in Turkey, we have seen more than a 10-fold increase in the scale and number of DDoS attacks we face compared to previous years, and that risks in this direction are also on an upward trend worldwide.”
WE WILL RAISE AWARENESS AMONG OUR YOUTH FOR A SECURE INTERNET
Emphasizing the importance of the conscious and safe use of the internet, Sayan said, “If we liken the internet to a river, it is not possible to stand in front of the river, build a dam, or prevent it from flowing. This river will flow. As individuals, regulators, and service providers, we will work together to keep this river in its course. Especially, we will work to prevent the river from overflowing like a flood and harming people. If this river is like the state of the Golden Horn 20 years ago, with microbes and viruses, we will ensure it flows clean together. In order to enter this river and not get sick. In this sense, we will raise awareness among our youth, ensure they swim in clean waters. We will consciously clean the parts with microbes and viruses. For this purpose, we continue our awareness-raising efforts to protect internet users from illegal content and turn them into conscious users, as well as our training activities for children and families.”
Also speaking about the Safe Internet Service, which was launched to protect families and children from the harmful content of the internet, Sayan said, “The Safe Internet Service, established by BTK since 2011, is a public service developed to protect our citizens against harmful internet content, optional for subscribers, free, transparent, user-friendly, interactive, and based on customer satisfaction. The Safe Internet Service is provided free of charge to subscribers who prefer it by internet service providers. The number of subscribers who prefer the Safe Internet Service has exceeded 5 million. In the ‘Conscious and Safe Use of the Internet’ topic, the number of teachers trained face-to-face has reached approximately 107,000, and within the scope of these trainings, in 2016, face-to-face training contents were converted into distance learning modules. With distance learning, approximately 51,000 people have participated in trainings to date. In the last 3 months alone, this center has reached 7,500 students, educators, and families with trainings on the conscious and safe use of the internet.”
President Sayan also stated that cooperation efforts regarding the “nic.tr domain name managed by METU are continuing in the program.
Reminding that it is the 5th anniversary of the opening of the ICANN Istanbul Office, Sayan concluded his speech by saying, “We are also proud to host the ICANN Istanbul Office in Turkey. We want to take our cooperation further with the aim of developing the internet and reach many more anniversaries together. I wish the 5th Middle East DNS Forum to be successful and very beneficial for all of you, and I congratulate those who contributed to this organization.”
In the program, regional stakeholders and world experts came together and shared their experiences. In addition, presentations were made on updates regarding new developments in the domain name industry.