Turkish cyber center battles 13 mln daily attacks with advanced software

Aysel Alp – ANKARA

The Turkish information body has revealed that its cyber incident response center scans over 17 million IP addresses in Türkiye for vulnerabilities with its “Hurricane” software, encountering 13 million attacks per day.

“There is no other organization in the world that can operate on this scale,” National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM) head Mahmut Esat Yıldırım said, speaking to a group of journalists.

He explained that upon detecting vulnerabilities, they notify IP owners with official letters and impose hefty fines for non-compliance.

USOM’s efforts extend to various of devices, including robot vacuum cleaners, security cameras and baby monitors, which are vulnerable to hacking.

These devices, often equipped with cameras and microphones, can be exploited to monitor and map homes and workplaces.

USOM identifies these vulnerabilities and publicly lists risky products on its website until they are fixed.

Yıldırım emphasized the scale and sophistication of Hurricane, likening it to a “cyber weapon” unmatched globally.

The center issues thousands of warnings daily to companies, urging them to rectify vulnerabilities, which can often be addressed through remote updates.

Highlighting the threats, Yıldırım warned about hackers who scam individuals by gathering personal information through compromised devices.

He also cautioned against using public Wi-Fi networks, which can be exploited by cyber attackers or foreign intelligence services to infiltrate devices.

USOM also deals with state-sponsored cyberattacks, coordinating with police, national intelligence, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

“We detect such attacks with ‘Hurricane.' In the background, there is actually a [cyber] war resembling a third world war,” Yıldırım said.

He underscored the potential impact of cyber-attacks, pointing out their low cost and high efficiency to traditional warfare.

“The cost of firing a missile at a country is millions of dollars, but with a cyber attack, you can collapse the most critical institutions of a country at zero cost. Iran experienced this. Their nuclear power plants were disabled with a virus called Stuxnet.”