Microsoft Türkiye General Manager - Levent ÖZBİLGİN: “ Endpoint security tools and server protection (solutions such as Defender for End point, Defender for identity) are at the top of the agenda of our government customers in Türkiye”

Defence Turkey: First of all, thank you for sparing time for our readers. Can we start our interview with a brief summary of your personal journey with Microsoft Türkiye after leaving Ericsson in September 2020?  

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: After gaining 20 years of experience in the information technology and telco sectors, I transferred to Microsoft Türkiye as General Manager in 2020. Since then, I have been leading the Microsoft Türkiye team, which guides the digital transformation journeys of our customers, business partners, start-ups and software developers with Microsoft technologies. I can say that the only thing that was different for me in this position was to take office in the middle of the pandemic. It was a new experience for me and my colleagues to start working together without meeting anyone in person. However, in a company that produces technology to overcome the challenges brought by the pandemic, our job was not very difficult.

Defence Turkey: Could you elaborate on the structure, responsibilities and number of personnel working at the Microsoft Türkiye?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: As Microsoft Türkiye, we operate under the Microsoft CEMA (Central Europe, Middle East and Africa) Region. This year is the 30th. In Türkiye, where we celebrate our anniversary, we have an ecosystem consisting of 10 thousand business partners and nearly 350 employees.

Defence Turkey: Can you inform us about Microsoft’s footprint in Türkiye? Could you please provide some key facts (such as the number of active users in Türkiye before and after the pandemic) about the company for our readers? 

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: As we have just mentioned, we have been in Türkiye for 30 years and we have a very wide area of influence with our 10 thousand business partners. If we look at the figures; 1 million devices Windows 11 in Türkiye; Another 1.5 million students use Microsoft Office applications. The number of students we have supported to receive distance education with Teams just only during the pandemic process is 3 million. In addition, 88% of Türkiye's leading companies use Microsoft cloud.

Defence Turkey: Can we get information about government institutions utilizing Microsoft Cloud services in Türkiye? 

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: Endpoint security tools and server protection (solutions such as Defender for End point, Defender for identity) are at the top of the agenda of our government customers in Türkiye. In addition to these, topics that require AI support such as website migration, software development (CI/CD adaptation), understanding PDF in the customers’ own habitat, handwritten documentation, digitization of this information and creating chatbots are among the cloud topics that government customers frequently need.

On the other hand, we work to support developers who develop open-source software at every step of the process, from ideation to collaboration to cloud migration. With Azure, we provide a platform for our partners – open source or not – to build successful, sustainable and scalable business structures.

Defence Turkey: Despite the fact that there is a desire for digital transformation, most defense agencies face unique challenges that complicate transformation, especially when embracing cloud-enabled services such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Can you elaborate on Microsoft’s cloud solutions? How do the defense and intelligence agencies advance their missions to promote stability and security for residents, nations, and multinational alliances with the help of Microsoft cloud solutions?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: If you ask what Microsoft does, we're a hyperscale cloud company, that's our core business. There has never been a use case where cloud usage is so prominent and so necessary. On the other hand, the issue of artificial intelligence needs to be included in the strategic development plans of countries. Here, again, the cloud comes into play.  Whether it is OpenAI, Metaverse, 5G-6G technologies, it is unthinkable for any technology that has the power to create a breakdown today and in-the-future to work without clouds; even if it is considered, it cannot be realized. Scale is the only common denominator that allows OpenAI and similar technologies to work. Without high scale, without using the leverage of economies of scale, it is not possible to get results from these technologies. For this reason, it is very important for data centers to work in close contact with countries. Without data centers, that is, without an infrastructure to process these enormous data sets, it is impossible for us to take full advantage of high technologies.

When it comes to trust, the first concept that comes to mind when it comes to artificial intelligence is trust. Therefore, in order to expand the application area of artificial intelligence, first of all, an environment of trust must be created. We also say that technology works safely. Today, people, the public and institutions are expected to trust artificial intelligence algorithms, which we do not know how they work. At this point, the biggest added value we offer as Microsoft is to provide confidence to the user. While working on which industries and technologies artificial intelligence can be used in, we strive to create a transparent model that protects the user's data and is accountable to the user. 

If we talk about the defense sector; we see that some defense industry companies are trying to provide innovation in supply chain management by turning to ready-made software from custom-made enterprise resource planning (ERP) and CRM. Microsoft also offers innovative solutions to these industrial companies in this vertical. Almost all of the companies operating in the defense industry in Türkiye use Microsoft Project Management software.

Defence Turkey: Today’s military assets are information systems, and each generates a massive amount of data, up to a terabyte of operations and maintenance data in a single sortie or more. Without digital transformation, much of this data can remain untapped thus limiting potential gains. How much time, effort and money does Microsoft set aside on R&D annually to assist digital transformation at every level with technology solutions for defense agencies?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: While we continue to support digital transformation with the support of our hybrid cloud solutions (Dynamics 365 / Microsoft 365 / Azure), we also offer end-to-end solutions in the field of cyber security in Türkiye. Let's open a parenthesis for security here because security is a very important topic for us. Safety is part of our corporate DNA. We must give 100% confidence to our users on both an individual and corporate basis in terms of protecting the confidentiality of their data. We can't accept anything less than that. Up-to-date data proves how widespread cyber-attacks have become. To give a few examples; The average cost of a global data wall breach in 2022 is $4.35 million. It takes an average of 1 hour and 12 minutes for an attacker who specializes in phishing to gain access to your private data. 15% of the simple applications we use in our daily lives consist of malware. In this environment, we feel the responsibility to inform all corporate and individual users against cyber threats, and we inform the public transparently with reports such as Cyber Security Report and Digital Defense Report, which we publish regularly every year. If we need to summarize the cyber threats that we face and our activities as Microsoft:

At Microsoft, we provide cybersecurity to 650,000 organizations in 120 countries.

We allocate over $1 billion annually to solutions in the field of security and compliance alone. 

With a team of 8500 people all over the world, we protect our customers against cyber threats in many different categories, especially "identity theft".

In the last 5 years, the budget we have allocated to develop advanced security tools is over 20 billion dollars.

Between 2000 and 2021, we scanned 24 trillion safety signals per day globally. When we see any anomaly on this system, we detect it and take immediate action.

The cat-and-mouse game between cybercriminals and cybersecurity providers is evolving. Although attackers have increased their attack speed over the past year, Microsoft products manage to block billions of malware and password theft attempts with their built-in security systems.

Microsoft's telemetry system reveals a 195% increase in human-led ransomware attacks since September 2022.

In addition, we see a 10-fold increase in password-based attacks on cloud identities in the first quarter of 2023. The number of attacks per month has increased from 3 billion to 30 billion, showing that Microsoft cloud identities face 4,000 password attacks per second.

Defence Turkey: Considering the heightened cyber-threat, what is Microsoft’s top priority to help governments and defense and aerospace companies protect themselves better? 

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: With the increasing number of employees accessing business applications and data across multiple locations as they work from home and shared offices, the importance of authenticity in cybersecurity is becoming clearer. In this context, not only businesses, but also those who actively use their personal information, identities and devices in the virtual environment; all users who store their data in the cloud become targets. If we need to list a few security measures that apply to both individuals and organizations:

Maximize your security settings to protect your inbox.

Businesses can configure their systems to separate incoming e-mails by flagging them.

Activate warning notifications about people who are not registered in your system. Block people whose identities you are not sure are correct and report them as spam or phishing in your email application.

Use MFA (Multi-factor authentication)

In addition to the password to enter your e-mail; enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) settings that require extra safeguards, such as a code, PIN, or fingerprint. 

Train your employees to understand the warning indicators

Train your employees to detect fraudulent or other malicious emails, such as incompatibilities between domain and e-mail addresses; inform them about the risks and cost burdens of successful BEC attacks.

When performing financial transactions (such as money transfers), perform the verification phase by phone.

In addition to all these measures, we anticipate that artificial intelligence-based defense mechanisms will make a great contribution to preventing cyber attacks, which have become increasingly common in recent years, in the near future. 

Defence Turkey: What is Microsoft is doing for sustainability? How would you summarize Microsoft’s ongoing sustainability projects with global partners?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: I would like to answer this question directly by talking about the activities we carry out in Türkiye. The Microsoft Türkiye Sustainability Team works with the sustainability leaders of our business partners and companies that have solutions in this field. On the other hand, the Microsoft Türkiye Technology Center stands out as an exemplary center in the world with its sustainability content, solutions and demos. The following examples explain how we benefit from our technologies in terms of sustainability:

We started to develop prototypes of smart agriculture applications with the Microsoft Research FarmVibes team and implemented many sustainability solutions in our offices on issues such as compost system, water management, and efficient lighting.

At Arkas Holding, we reduced our carbon footprint by 94% by moving the entire IT and application innovation infrastructure to the cloud. 

Within the framework of the project that we carried out with TAT, we implemented a dashboard that calculates, analyzes and optimizes the amount of water drawn for irrigation and the amount of energy used from water wells in farms.

We implemented the Air Pollution Dashboard project with the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Urbanization.

We represented our country by participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Egypt together with the senior executives of our customers that we work with in Türkiye.

Through the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program, we supported 75 Turkish start-ups that offer solutions in the field of sustainability. Among them, Twin Science and Vahaa have been accepted into Microsoft's Global Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact Program.

Defence Turkey: What is sustainability in digital transformation and how does digital transformation support sustainability?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: As Microsoft, we express at every opportunity that we have completed the digital transformation and that we have now entered the age of digital maturity. By combining our global experience with cloud technologies and innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum shaped on this platform, we carry individuals and organizations to the future with a strategic perspective. Again, the hybrid working model made possible by these technologies also makes a great contribution to sustainability by reducing costs. Today, flexible working models, which we accept as permanent, are perfecting day by day. In the hybrid model, which is often thought to be applied half remotely, half from the office, the percentages do not matter much. At the end of the day, we are all looking to create sustainable business models that combine creativity, efficiency and productivity. Obtaining them may depend on different conditions for everyone; therefore, it does not make much sense to make all employees wear the same shirt, work the same hours and expect them to be happy under the same conditions. 

While companies that have managed to fully implement digital transformation turn into small technology companies in themselves; this transformation also has many benefits in terms of environmental and economic sustainability. Therefore, we can say that digitalization and sustainability are two concepts that feed on each other in every sense and go hand in hand.

Defence Turkey: The major technological changes are not only happening on earth; transformation is extending into space as well. Recognizing this strategic shift, Microsoft made a significant investment in establishing Azure Space. Can you briefly introduce Azure Space to our readers? Do you provide any services to Turkish customers via Azure Space?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: Azure Space stands out as a solution developed by Microsoft for space technologies in cooperation with institutions such as NASA and Space X. Designed to make cloud connectivity and computing increasingly accessible in industries such as agriculture, energy, telecommunications and government, Azure Space uses data collected from space to transform entire industries and create new paradigms. It also helps you leverage powerful connectivity, analytics, and emulation for your customers through partnerships, field data, collaboration tools, and Microsoft services and capabilities.

Defence Turkey: How do you see Türkiye's position in Microsoft's future business projection?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: I believe that multinational companies should grow by focusing on the strengths of the countries in which they operate. Among the additional investments we plan to implement in Türkiye, we can list the increasing start-up support, our national leadership in the field of technology education and talent development, the technologies produced in our R&D Center, and the increase in the number of R&D engineers. Another goal of ours is to bring the hyperscale data center components required for Microsoft's consumer and enterprise products to Türkiye in order.

Defence Turkey: Would you like to add anything in the way of a message for our readers?

Levent ÖZBİLGİN: As Microsoft Türkiye, we have contributed to the competitiveness of all businesses, from small and medium-sized enterprises to global companies operating worldwide, with our products and services in the past 30 years. On the other hand, we have undertaken major projects in order to add value not only to our customers but also to all stakeholders of the technology ecosystem in Türkiye.  In 2019, we opened the Microsoft Technology Center (MTM); Microsoft Manufacturing Core within MEXT in 2020; Retail Experience Center in 2021; in 2022, we opened the Microsoft Türkiye R&D Center. I think all these investments summarize Microsoft's view and trust in Türkiye. Microsoft Türkiye’s 30th is in 2023, and while celebrating its anniversary, the Republic of Türkiye is also celebrating its 100th anniversary.  On this occasion, I would like to emphasize again the magnitude of Türkiye's technology potential. We may not be at the point we want to be in areas such as organizational digitalization and cloud usage, but our population is still young and our speed of adaptation to new technologies is very high, we have seen this very clearly during the pandemic process. According to TurkStat's 2022 data, the rate of individuals using the internet in Türkiye is 85%, while the rate of households with internet access is 94%. We are among the top 10 markets globally in all of the most used social media channels such as Instagram, X and TikTok. We have one of the most vibrant start-up ecosystems in the MENA region with our decacorns and unicorns, which have been on a tremendous growth trend since the beginning of the pandemic. These examples can be multiplied. Each of them points to Türkiye's growth potential in the field of technology and adds to our appetite for producing technology in Türkiye. With this appetite, we will continue to expand digital transformation with our hybrid cloud solutions, contribute to the training of a digitally competent workforce, support our country's start-up ecosystem, encourage women and young people to turn to the technology sector, provide end-to-end solutions in the field of cyber security in Türkiye, and help our business partners set and achieve effective sustainability goals