The National Cyber Shield 2021 Exercise, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), began with the participation of Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu.
In his speech at the opening of the National Cyber Shield 2021 Exercise held at BTK, Minister Karaismailoğlu stated that the communication and information age has reached a highly advanced stage with innovations in technology.
Expressing that concepts such as far-near, known-unknown have become meaningless, borders have become transparent, and mutual interaction barriers have largely been removed, Karaismailoğlu noted that they aim to offer solutions emerging at the intersection of the transportation sector and information and communication technologies to citizens thanks to the opportunities provided by the country's strong informatics and communication infrastructure.
Providing information that 92 billion lira has been invested in the communication sector between 2003-2021, Karaismailoğlu said, "I must state with great satisfaction that despite the challenging pandemic period that shook the world's giant economies, the total investment amount of our country's telecom and mobile operators reached approximately 13 billion lira in 2020, with a 27.3% increase compared to the previous year. You can be sure that as the Ministry, we will continue to pave the way for these investments and accelerate them."
Emphasizing that they never consider the development of communication infrastructure and services sufficient on their own, Karaismailoğlu stated that it is important for these services to spread across the geography at the speed they develop and for all citizens to benefit from them.
Minister Karaismailoğlu: Ensuring Our National Cyber Security is Our Top Priority Agenda
"Cyber security is now a national security issue," said Karaismailoğlu, explaining that according to international research, the cost of losses due to cyber attacks is projected to reach 6 trillion dollars worldwide in 2021, and therefore ensuring national cyber security is everyone's top priority agenda.
Karaismailoğlu also conveyed that no significant or permanent damage has occurred to the country to date as a result of measures and studies in the field of cyber security.
Drawing attention to the fact that hundreds of thousands of attacks targeting Turkey in the last 4 years have been blocked with domestically and nationally developed applications KASIRGA, AVCI, and AZAD, Karaismailoğlu expressed that developing domestic and national software in the field of cyber security is indispensable.
Stating that they continue investments to increase the prevalence of fiber infrastructure, which is critically important for 5G expected to contribute 4 trillion dollars to the world economy and create 23 million jobs by 2035, Karaismailoğlu said they have received views from operators, manufacturer companies, and other sector stakeholders for this purpose.
Indicating that they must continue supports for the development and production of domestic and national hardware and software that will meet the sector's needs in the field of cyber security, and increase the competencies of cyber incident response teams, Karaismailoğlu said they will continue to develop a proactive cyber defense approach based on the integrity covering before, during, and after cyber incidents.
Pointing out that with the exercise, they aim to develop the participants' institutions' capabilities to counter cyber attacks, improve intra-institutional and inter-institutional coordinations, and increase their preparedness levels, Karaismailoğlu continued his speech as follows: "Our institutions will experience the current cyber security risks and effects in this process, and gain experience in being part of national cooperation in preventing cyber threats. We also aim to contribute to their future studies by enabling them to see their deficiencies in the simulation environment. Our national cyber security exercises also serve as a valuable platform for experience sharing among our institutions. Within the scope of the National Cyber Shield Exercise 2021, 135 cyber security experts in cyber security teams from 36 institutions and organizations ranging from health to education, energy to banking, broadcasting to water management will have the opportunity to test their knowledge and skills. As a result of the exercises, cyber pirates and terrorists will face expert professionals. Thanks to the cyber experts we have trained, we will close any vulnerabilities if they exist and find ways to neutralize attacks in the most effective manner."
Deputy Minister Sayan: BTK Works 7/24 as the "Protector of the Cyber Homeland"
Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan also spoke about the importance of cyber security. Sayan stated that while progressing on the path to becoming a country that produces and develops beyond just being a market, and conducts R&D, BTK continues its duty 7 days 24 hours as the protector of cyber security, the "protector of the cyber homeland."
Mentioning that USOM, established under BTK, has been carrying out its activities since 2013, Sayan expressed that in the context of strengthening national cyber security, they have established Cyber Incident Response Teams (SOME) to operate in critical sectors such as "energy, health, banking, finance, transportation, electronic communication, water management" under the coordination of USOM.
Stating that the coordination of teams in more than 1900 public institutions and organizations across Turkey together with SOMEs is provided by USOM, Sayan said, "In the exercise area with more than 36 public institutions and organizations, 135 cyber security experts will compete to ensure the cyber security of their own systems."
Deputy Minister Sayan: We Attach Importance to Bilateral, Regional, and International Cooperations
Sayan, who confirmed that Turkey has climbed to the top ranks in the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index, which measures countries' maturity in technical, organizational, legal, and cooperation aspects, emphasized that they attach importance to bilateral, regional, and international cooperations in line with the increasing importance of relations with international stakeholders due to the border-transcending nature of cyberspace.
Pointing out that USOM conducts cyber threat intelligence through its memberships in international platforms such as FIRST, TI, ITU, CAMP, NATO MISP, and OIC-CERT, Sayan used the following expressions: "In cooperation with the Vocational Qualifications Authority and BTK, the National Occupational Standard for Cyber Security Specialist (Level 5) has been established. In this scope, we are training our cyber security experts."
Providing information that with systems such as AVCI, AZAD, KASIRGA, ATMACA, SINKHOLE, and KULE run under USOM, 16 million IP addresses are scanned in 1 hour, and 126 thousand websites' 2 million pages are scanned and analyzed in 7 hours, Sayan said, "Thanks to these domestic and national infrastructures, more than 700 different vulnerability types are continuously checked. More than 500 different attack signatures are tracked in real-time, and 4 million fake websites are checked daily."
Sayan emphasized that in the future period as well, they will continue to support internal resources and those working in this field to develop and use domestic and national technologies.
President Karagözoğlu: The Exercise Will Host High-Level Competition
BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu also stated that the exercise will host quite challenging but equally exciting and high-level competition over two days.
Pointing out that cyber security has become inseparable from national security for all countries, Karagözoğlu said, "In our country as well, USOM under our institution acts like a fortress to protect our cyber homeland. SOMEs are at their duties 7/24 under the coordination of USOM for the protection of institutions and critical infrastructure sectors."
Following the speeches, Minister Karaismailoğlu, Deputy Minister Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, and General Manager of Communications Gökhan Evren launched the National Cyber Shield Exercise 2021.