Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that a total of 108 million accesses to 252,883 malicious internet addresses have been blocked since the establishment of the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM) in 2014.
Uraloğlu stated that risks related to vulnerabilities can be proactively detected through regular scans conducted on each of the total 16.7 million IP addresses.
Last week, one of Turkey's major agenda items was the imitation of President Erdoğan's voice using artificial intelligence. The individual attempting to defraud businesspeople and high-level public executives was quickly apprehended as a result of sensitive operations by MIT's cybersecurity units. Minister Uraloğlu emphasized that this incident once again highlighted the importance of cybersecurity for national security in countries.
Minister Uraloğlu stressed that USOM, operating under the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, aims to enhance the cybersecurity awareness across the country. Uraloğlu stated that USOM continues its activities to prevent cyber threats through alarms, warnings, and announcements, to take control of incidents with on-site intervention teams in critical situations, and to ensure national coordination in cyber incident response.
Uraloğlu said that as of August 18, 2,154 SOME teams operating under USOM coordination and approximately 7,000 cybersecurity experts working there are conducting studies to protect the country's cyber domain. He noted that these efforts warn critical institutions and organizations in the country against threats and vulnerabilities so that necessary measures can be taken by the relevant parties.
Minister Uraloğlu, who announced that potential attacks on internet users and systems across the country have been prevented thanks to USOM's efforts, said, “Risks related to vulnerabilities can be proactively detected through regular scans conducted on each of the total 16.7 million IP addresses. At this point, more than 55,000 official cybersecurity vulnerability notices have been reported to relevant institutions and organizations by USOM, ensuring that necessary measures are taken. A total of 108 million accesses to 252,883 malicious internet addresses have been blocked. 4,146 cybersecurity notifications have been announced. It has been detected that 44,835 domain names were used for phishing targeting citizens with artificial intelligence technology."
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Uraloğlu noted that under USOM's activities, 6 zero-day vulnerabilities were detected in 2020, 8 in 2021, 24 in 2022, and 58 in 2023, stating, "The CNA (CVE Numbering Authorities) acceptance process has been successfully completed. USOM now assigns CVE numbers for security vulnerabilities in third-party software, hardware, or products produced and frequently used in our country and provides process coordination in vulnerability management. Under the implemented activities, 21 CVE IDs were assigned in 2021, 29 in 2022, and 84 in 2023."
Emphasizing that according to the data of the "Global Cybersecurity Index" used by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to measure countries' cybersecurity maturity, the country's ranking has risen, Uraloğlu announced that in this context, it achieved success by rising from 11th to 6th place in Europe in 2020 and from 20th to 11th place globally.
Implemented Activities
Under the protocol signed between the Ministry of Youth and Sports (GSB) and BTK, it was aimed to bring the youth under the GSB roof together with BTK Academy. In this framework, cybersecurity camps were held this year in 2023 in collaboration with GSB, BTK Academy, and USOM.
Under awareness activities targeting all segments of society in the field of cybersecurity, cybersecurity awareness trainings were organized at Yenimahalle Visually Impaired Rehabilitation Center, Demetevler Fatma Üçer Nursing Home Elderly Care and Rehabilitation Center, and Etimesgut Municipality Barrier-Free Life Center.
Guide documents titled "Individual Cybersecurity Measures" and "Corporate Cybersecurity Measures" were prepared by USOM and published on the USOM website.
Participation was provided in the NATO CMX-2023 Crisis Management Exercise at the General Secretariat of the National Security Council and in the Locked Shield Exercise organized by NATO.
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International cyber exercises were conducted jointly by USOM with the Council of Europe. The exercises brought together a large number of experts from Eastern and Southeastern European countries under the guidance of an international team of experts and USOM. Finally, under the CyberEast project, "CyberEast: Regional Cybercrime Co-operation Exercise" was held in Romania on April 19-21, 2023, under USOM's guidance.