Cyber Security Experts Gathered to Capture the Flag
Cyber security experts, engineers, university students and volunteers interested in the subject became hackers and competed against each other at the ‘Capture the Flag – CTF’ contest organized by the STM at the Wyndham Ankara Hotel this year for the second time. The Undersecretary of Defense Industries Prof. İsmail Demir, SSM Deputy Secretary Mr. Serdar Demirel, STM General Manager Mr. Davut Yılmaz and many invitees participated in the event that lasted for a day.
STM General Manager Mr. Davut Yılmaz: “Turkey is the most attacked country in Europe and it is the third country facing the most cyber-attacks in the world”
Executing the opening of the CTF 2016 event, STM General Manager Mr. Davut Yılmaz underlined that cyber security started to become more and more important and critical with every passing year and continued, “Though it used to be a hobby of the youngsters interested in computers in the past, the cyber security concept significantly evolved over time. It is no longer a mere hobby; it became a personal threat for some while a personal element of crime. Ultimately it entered to an organizational and institutional stage. Cyber security is regarded as an integral part of national security. Particularly, the government has to attach more importance to cyber security and invest in it with all its institutions. According to the latest report published by STM, Turkey is at the top of the list of European countries facing cyber-attacks and it is the third country facing the most cyber-attacks in the world. Especially within the last one year, we faced many cyber-attacks as a country. As a result of all aforementioned reasons, we have to develop more systematic, strategic, indigenous and national solutions concerning cyber security as Turkey. From this perspective, one of our greatest investments as STM is the cyber security issue and within this framework, we launched our cyber fusion center based on a proactive approach - rather than a reactive one – that has the potential to detect the attack before it takes place and prevent it. This capability is the first and only in Turkey and it has few examples in the world. All our software is being developed indigenously and nationally by the staff on our team. On the other hand, we are publishing the cyber security report that creates awareness to the sector on a quarter basis. Moreover, we will launch the cyber security training within this context in the upcoming months. This training will be a very special cyber security training which is not presently being implemented in Turkey. We aim to fulfill the existing requirement for qualified personnel in Turkey with the assistance of this training. Meanwhile, as STM, we organize the CTF contest in order to train qualified human resources in cyber security and to create awareness. The interest towards our competition is increasing as well.”
SSM Undersecretary Prof. İsmail Demir: “Cyber security started to become an issue of national security for the countries”
In his speech prior to the competition, the Undersecretary for Defense Industries Prof. İsmail Demir said, “Cyber security started to become a national security issue for the countries. A country needs to have the capability of conducting attacks as much as defense because, if it lacks that power then it would not have the power to deter. Turkey, being first on the list of most attacked countries, is rather meaningful for us. Let alone the world, even in our region there are some comments implying that Turkey’s level of cyber security is quite low”. Prof. Demir stated that they supported the activities towards increasing the competence, awareness and level of education in Turkey and added that they activated their relevant departments to this end.
26 teams, 96 competitors...
Professionals from the public sector, universities and the private sector as well as volunteers gathered at Turkey’s most comprehensive cyber security contest. The team composed of Çağın Hasan Dönmez, Mazlum Ağar and Kadir Çetinkaya came in first at the competition in which 26 teams and 96 people competed. Team of Hakkı Yüce, Murat Yılmazlar, Robin Dimyanoğlu and Mücahit Karadağ came in second in the race and the team of Ali Ağdeniz, Halil İbrahim Azak, Selim Yıldız and Semih Demirci came in third.
