Why has Cybersecurity Become Such an Issue?

As a result of Turkey’s economic growth, its deepening integration into the world economy and its developing information and communications infrastructure, Turkey has seen the cyber space assume a prominent position in the daily life of Turkish state organizations, businesses and citizens. As of December 2012, the Internet penetration rate is estimated at 46%  and 20% of Turkey’s population own a smartphone, while the number of mobile Internet users has more than doubled between 2011 and 2012 in the country .

Consequently, Turkey enjoys greater interconnections with the rest of the globe; allowing the country to be part of the borderless world of digital communications. The nation is regarded highly by foreign investors, both as a stable country and as an attractive market. Moreover, Turkey is becoming more and more active on the regional and international geopolitical scene and has become a major political partner in Central Asia, Gulf Countries, South-South East Asia,the Middle East Region. However, this increasing influence on the global arena has created two parallel realities for the nation, i.e. being an attractive place for investment while also being seen as an economic competitor and political challenger, subjected to state-endorsed espionage. To combat such threats, Thales, a world leader in Defence and Security, has developed high grade network encryption solutions to protect state and corporate information up to the highest classification level.

Turkey also faces internal and external cyber threats from non-state hacking groups and individuals. Turkish state websites have been victim to several cyber attacks, some even aiming to cut off power across the entire country . Such attacks emphasize the necessity of improving the nation’s cyber security of critical infrastructure. Thales currently also provides network monitoring solutions for critical infrastructure in order to be able to detect and react to cyber attacks. Therefore, in view of its rising political and economic importance and the increasing number of cyber attacks targeting the country, Turkey is a prime target for cyber attackers. Specifically, “Turkey is among the top 10 countries subjected to cyber attacks”, according to Professor Mustafa Alkan, Chairman of the Information Security Association at the National Cyber Security Strategy Workshop in 2012 . 

The Turkish Government has not been a bystander to this issue, but has also taken on initiatives to improve the level of cyber security and cyber defence in Turkey. The recent launch of the National Cyber Security Coordination Foundation is a testimony to the work being done to ensure the country’s stability and reputation is protected.

As security specialists to the French Government, NATO and the United Nations, we have seen large organisations struggle in tackling cyber-space risks as the pressure to ensure the security of sensitive information mounts, and we know how important it is for a country like Turkey to not only protect, but also constantly watch their critical information systems. Dedicated to responding to these particular risks, Thales has developed products and solutions for government, military and corporate customers. Thales’s solutions in the cybersecurity field cover all needs: from cryptography to penetration tests, through to risk analysis, security audits, network security and encryption, as well as operating system hardening, database security, security architecture design, network supervision and rapid reaction.

As a member-state of NATO and one of the major military powers, Turkey must ensure that all its military networks and communications are correctly protected against malicious eavesdropping with the appropriate solutions. Dedicated to this issue, Thales has developed a comprehensive range of network encryptors that fulfils all operational requirements, from the highest level of security classification to the sensitive but unclassified segment for every type of system (satellite, radio, tactical).

Nevertheless, recent events have shown that cyber security is not just a matter of defence, but also a question of national security, implying potential impacts of a cyber attack against critical infrastructure. In a world where cyberspace has become a true theatre of operations, cyber attacks against a country’s critical infrastructure can be a way to, if not defeat its adversary, critically damage its infrastructure and undermine its economic and social life. From this point of view, Stuxnet remains the best example of how cyber attacks can damage unprotected infrastructures. Therefore, it is important that Turkey implements protection and supervision measures to achieve a satisfying level of security of its critical infrastructure, and that Turkey can rely on Thales’s know-how and solutions for critical infrastructure security. Thus, Thales has conceived CYBELS, a solution supervising in real-time any given information system, and providing cyber operators with the means to detect, analyze and react in case of cyber attacks. This is all thanks to innovative technologies patented by Thales and an ease of operation. CYBELS offers the means to identify and understand the key elements of a cyber attack in order to react before business is affected. CYBELS also integrates a solution for cyber training in order to train the operators and to validate the reaction plan before being implemented. Moreover, Thales and Schneider Electric have partnered in order to develop common cyber security solutions designed for SCADA and ICS.

Finally, following Turkey’s economic growth, the Turkish financial sector has been developing itself and is now of absolute vitality to the country. This is a domain where we cannot tolerate any cases of security breach, identity theft or disruption as it manages the money and savings of citizens. Thales can also play a role in this domain as the company is the world leader for payment security and more than 70% of worldwide financial transactions are secured by Thales.

Thanks to their recognized quality, Thales’s solutions are implemented in the most demanding environments in terms of security. As examples, Thales solutions are deployed to secure financial transactions, the cloud environment (Cloudwatt), satellite communications such as Galileo, tactical networks, SCADA and ICS and urban security systems such as in Mexico. Thales is now ready to be part of Turkey’s cyber security strategy !