Access to nearly 253 thousand malicious internet addresses was blocked

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu stated that the risks related to vulnerabilities can be proactively detected through regular scans for each of the 16.7 million IP addresses, and reported that a total of 108 million accesses to 252,883 malicious internet addresses have been blocked since the establishment of the National Cyber Incidents Intervention Center (USOM) in 2014. The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) brought the issue of cybersecurity back to the agenda after it caught a person who tried to defraud business people and senior public administrators by imitating President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s voice with artificial intelligence. Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu evaluated the developments in this area to an AA correspondent. Minister Uraloğlu stated that USOM, which operates under the Information Technologies and Communication Authority (BTK) within the scope of the studies, aims to develop the understanding of cyber security throughout the country, and said that USOM continues its activities to prevent cyber threats with alarms, warnings and announcements, to take control of the incident with on-site intervention teams in critical situations and to ensure national coordination in response to cyber incidents. Minister Uraloğlu noted that as of August 18, 2,154 SOMEs working under the coordination of USOM and approximately 7,000 cyber security experts working in these areas are working to protect the country's cyberspace. Uraloğlu stated that with these studies, critical institutions and organizations in the country are warned against threats and vulnerabilities and necessary precautions are taken by the relevant parties, and said: "In this way, possible attacks on internet users and systems across the country have been prevented. With regular scans for each of the 16.7 million IP addresses in total, risks related to vulnerabilities can be proactively detected. At this point, more than 55 thousand official cyber security vulnerabilities have been reported to the relevant institutions and organizations by USOM, ensuring that the necessary precautions are taken. A total of 108 million accesses to 252 thousand 883 malicious internet addresses were blocked. 4 thousand 146 cyber security notifications were announced. It was determined that 44 thousand 835 domain names were used as phishing to defraud citizens with artificial intelligence technology." Turkey rose in the Global Cyber Security Index Uraloğlu pointed out that 6 zero-day vulnerabilities were detected in 2020, 8 in 2021, 24 in 2022 and 58 in 2023 within the scope of the activities carried out by USOM and shared the following information: "The CNA (CVE Numbering Authorities) acceptance process has been successfully completed. USOM now assigns CVE numbers for the vulnerabilities of third-party software, hardware or products produced and frequently used in our country and provides process coordination in security vulnerability management. Within the scope of the activities carried out, 21 CVE ID assignments were made in 2021, 29 in 2022 and 84 in 2023." Emphasizing that as a result of cybersecurity studies, the country's ranking has increased according to the "Global Cybersecurity Index" data used by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to measure countries' maturity in cybersecurity, Uraloğlu explained that in this context, it has succeeded in rising from 11th place to 6th place in Europe in 2020 and from 20th place to 11th place worldwide.