11. International Information Security and Cryptology Conference was hosted by the Information Technologies and Communication Authority.
At the 11th edition of the traditionally held Information Security and Cryptology Conference, blockchain technology was discussed in depth. The program was attended by Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu, President of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, Ahmet Hamdi Atalay, President of the Information Security Association, academics, industry representatives, and students.
Starting his speech by recalling that blockchain technology, which entered our lives with cryptocurrencies, is one of the most important topics discussed in recent days, BTK President Ömer Abdullah Karagözoğlu stated, “Blockchain technology, which entered our lives with cryptocurrencies, will actually deeply affect many sectors in the future and have very different areas of use. Today, we see that many companies around the world are investing in this field and developing new blockchain-based technologies every day. Especially in contrast to centralized structures that form the basis of today's traditional methods, blockchain technology offers a distributed structure, promising a more secure infrastructure to the entire world with this feature. On the other hand, another advantage brought by the same distributed structure is that the data stored on these structures is shared across the entire structure, ensuring verifiability and transparency. The developments in information and communication technologies today are certainly not limited to blockchain. From artificial intelligence to big data, from the Internet of Things to machine-to-machine communication, we are introduced to many new concepts and see that these concepts have settled right at the center of our lives in a very short time. Indeed, all these technologies are becoming increasingly widespread in almost every field day by day, becoming a routine and ordinary part of our daily lives.”
President Karagözoğlu: Cyber Security Strategies Are Becoming More Critical Every Day
Expressing that information and communication technologies also bring certain risks, Karagözoğlu said, “Cyber attackers, just like in the past, continue to test the resilience of developed products or services today and aim to cause harm by exploiting the slightest weakness. At this point, we see that cyber security strategies are becoming more critical every day. When we look at the developments in current cyber security technologies, we see that investments are beginning to be made in cyber threat detection and prevention systems using analytical artificial intelligence and machine learning. In addition to these two concepts, we see 'automation' standing out. The rapid prevention of cyber threats detected through artificial intelligence and machine learning on big data with automation systems constitutes an important part of a holistic cyber security strategy,” he stated.
President Karagözoğlu also added that, through the National Cyber Incident Response Center operating under BTK, activities related to ensuring national cyber security are being continuously conducted in coordination with all stakeholders in the country.
Deputy Minister Sayan: Works Related to Blockchain Are an Important Development
Emphasizing that we have started to encounter concepts such as big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, augmented reality, blockchain, and quantum computers more in recent periods, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan began his speech by saying, “Blockchain, which forms the main theme of this conference, has been at the forefront of the topics we have talked about a lot especially in the last few years. We can define blockchain in the most general sense as a distributed database that provides encrypted transaction tracking. Blockchain, built with a chain model, trackable but unbreakable, has become a widely used technology in banking and financial applications today. It allows transactions without being tied to a center, and transactions can be carried out directly between the buyer and seller securely.”
Drawing attention to research indicating that banks could reduce their costs by 15-20 billion dollars by using blockchain as of 2022, Sayan said, “The blockchain technology market is expected to reach 9.6 billion dollars by 2024. We can say that blockchain has begun to be used as a security tool in itself. For example, hacking a computer in traditional infrastructures can cause serious material and moral damage to a company or institution. However, when blockchain technology is used, all information is collected in pieces distributed across many computers, making it quite difficult for attackers to access meaningful information. We consider the presence of companies investing in this technology in our country and the establishment of blockchain research laboratories in various institutions as an important development.”
Deputy Minister Sayan: Cyber Security Is Now Also a Part of National Security
Noting that these encryption methods, which cannot be broken or solved with the processing capacities of today's computers, will face a serious threat with the development of quantum computers, Deputy Minister Sayan once again drew attention to the issue of cyber security. Sayan said, “Cyber security has now become a part of National Security and a major factor affecting the welfare of nations. In most countries, cyber space is now seen as a military operational area alongside land, sea, air, and space. Along with developments in the world, we must be a Turkey that develops, produces, exports, and is self-sufficient in local and national solutions in the field of information technologies. Both our Ministry and the Information Technologies and Communication Authority, namely BTK, continue their work in the electronic communications sector and cyber security field. While BTK fulfills its regulatory duties towards the electronic communications sector, it also conducts activities to ensure national cyber security as per the duties and responsibilities assigned to it,” he spoke.
Emphasizing the importance of local and national solutions in ensuring national cyber security, Sayan drew attention to applications such as AVCI, AZAD, KASIRGA developed and added: “These applications we have developed are used not only to prevent victimizations for end users but also to effectively detect cyber espionage attacks. Vulnerabilities are detected by scanning open sources on the internet, especially for critical public institutions. In addition, attack sources can be identified with the trap systems we use, and the analysis of attackers' behavior patterns and details related to attacks is possible.”
The program continued with presentations by panelists on topics such as blockchain and cyber security. In this two-day event, the same topics will be discussed in all details by experts.