The MÜSİAD Cyber Power Türkiye'24 Summit, held by the Digital Transformation Sector Board of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD), has been completed. The summit, at which Türkiye's transformation strategy in digital defence was addressed, was held with the participation of Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, President of MÜSİAD Mahmut Asmalı, Deputy President of Defence Industries of the Presidency Hüseyin Avşar, Deputy Head of the Presidency's Digital Transformation Office Yusuf Tancan, TÜBİTAK Vice President İsmail Doğan, MÜSİAD Digital Transformation Sector Board Chairman Taha Çiftci and prominent speakers.
In his speech at the summit, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said: “MÜSİAD has become an important civil society organization for our country's sustainable growth target. In a world in which technological development advances rapidly and many areas of our lives change day by day, this event is very important.”
Recalling Israel's cyber attack targeting Hezbollah members in Lebanon, the Minister continued as follows:
"In the face of developing cyber threats, the importance of such work is increasing. The development of innovative production is of importance. Countries that can properly identify the needs of the future will be the winners of tomorrow. Investing in information technologies has become compulsory, and that is indeed what is happening. Artificial intelligence is able to sift through millions of incidents and detect a different, emerging incident. By knowing the habits of a bank customer, artificial intelligence can prevent a fraud incident in an unusual event. As the Ministry of Transport, we are also the ministry that ensures our country's security in the digital field. We carry out work in the national and international arena through USOM. We ensure our country's cyber security with our artificial intelligence applications named Avcı, Azat, Kasırga and Kule. We display an effective approach on the issue of terrorist propaganda in the digital world. We deal closely with content related to this and impose access blocks. We give no passage to terrorist accounts in the digital world; we are determined."
“We say that the best boycott is to produce”
In his speech at the opening, President of MÜSİAD Mahmut Asmalı stated that the effects of technology not only on daily life but also on national security have gained great importance, and said that the issues of artificial intelligence and cyber security have become indispensable elements for the country's national security and future.
Pointing out that Türkiye's significant investments in the field of national defence are being continued with a visionary perspective, Asmalı noted the following:
"The developments in question are extremely important and a source of pride for our country. We think that the National Cyber Security Strategy and Action Plan, which covers the years 2024-2028 and addresses the issue of cyber security at the highest level for our country, will be a guide for our future. Acting immediately after the circular published in the Official Gazette on 7 September, we prepared our Cyber Power Türkiye 2024 report and planned this summit in order to bring the issue of cyber security and artificial intelligence onto the agenda together with the private sector, civil society and the public sector, and to contribute to the work to be carried out at the state level."
Conveying that as MÜSİAD they aim, by developing domestic and national solutions, for Türkiye to be in a secure and strong position in the field of cyber security, Asmalı said: "Cyber security has become a critical priority for protecting all our assets, identities and data in the digital world. In order to build our country's digital future and make it sustainable, we must first of all make our technology infrastructure stronger. For this we must make major investments under the guidance of our state and advance with a road map in line with the National Cyber Security Strategy and Action Plan. As MÜSİAD, with our nearly 60 thousand member companies, we are making every effort to provide the strongest contribution to this road map, and we will continue to do so."
Emphasizing that the best boycott is to produce, Asmalı said: "We produced UAVs (İHA) and armed UAVs (SİHA) and, praise be to God, we were in need of no one. We have trained manpower and the means to produce everything. All that is needed is for us to work and produce. We believe that Cyber Power Türkiye 2024 will bring about fruitful results for our country."
Deputy President of Defence Industries of the Presidency Avşar, for his part, stated that cyber security confronts them in almost every area of life and used the following words: "In this context, the possible dangers harboured by cyberspace, in which all of us find ourselves in our daily lives, in the transactions of all sectors, in the field of communication and at the level of social media, have reached a point that cannot be ignored. Today, digital components have penetrated to the deepest points of human life. For this reason, where cyber attacks will come from has now turned into something uncertain and complex."
Deputy Head of the Presidency's Digital Transformation Office Tancan, for his part, conveyed that the transformation brought about by innovative technologies is reshaping every area of life and made the following assessment: "Developments that strain human life are taking place in cyberspace. Cyberspace has turned into an environment in which, independently of distance and with minimum expertise, equipment and cost, destruction similar to the effect created by conventional weapons can be produced. With automated attack tools, even non-expert people can easily turn into cyber soldiers. We are now in the era of new-generation wars in which the first bullet is fired from cyberspace."
“By advancing cooperation we can produce more comprehensive solutions on cyber security”
TÜBİTAK Vice President Doğan, for his part, expressed that with the work they carry out in line with the National Technology Initiative they aim for Türkiye to develop technological capabilities in a fully independent manner and to ensure its national security.
Explaining that in the digital age we are in, the protection of information and data lies at the centre of national security, Doğan said: "While technological innovations increase the welfare of societies, they also bring new threats and risks with them. At this point, as TÜBİTAK we act with an awareness of the mission we have undertaken and focus on strategic prioritization work in the field of cyber security."
MÜSİAD Digital Transformation Sector Board Chairman Taha Çiftci, for his part, expressed that as the MÜSİAD Digital Transformation Sector Board they initially held the Domestic Software and Cyber Power Türkiye Workshop, and said that following this workshop the Domestic Software and Cyber Power Türkiye Workshop Report was published. Explaining that just as Türkiye's borders on land, at sea and in the air are important, they are of equal value in the cyber domain, Çiftci said: "Our esteemed officials name this the 'cyber homeland'. In order to protect our cyber homeland we need to comply with all the necessary action plans, and in order to draw up these plans of ours we also need to create an action plan together by increasing the muscle strength of the public and private sectors. A better action plan can be created by strengthening the domestic software ecosystem."
Conveying that a software update carried out by a US-based company affected critical sectors all over the world, Çiftci expressed that at this point it is important to make domestic cyber security products widespread.
Drawing attention to the fact that Türkiye does not have an entrepreneur problem, Çiftci used the following words: "It needs support at the point of the productization and branding problem. As MÜSİAD Digital we held the Entrepreneurship, Productization and Branding Summit. And now, with the Cyber Power Türkiye summit, we have given a place to 18 of our start-ups."
The sessions Cyber Security: The Defence Line of the Digital World and Artificial Intelligence Wars were held
At the MÜSİAD Cyber Power Türkiye'24 Summit, two different sessions were held in addition to the entrepreneur presentations. In the first session, the Defence Line of the Digital World session, the topics of cyber security and software were discussed. Under the moderation of Türkiye Cyber Security Cluster General Coordinator Alpaslan Kesici, Head of the Cyber Security and Information Systems Department of the Presidency of Defence Industries Ahmet Bahadır Bülbül, Turkcell Cyber Security Director Dr. Emin İslam Tatlı, Director of the TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Cyber Security Institute Dr. İsmail Güneş, Imperum Founder Senad Aruc and Picus Security Co-Founder Dr. Süleyman Özarslan delivered their speeches.
The second session, the Artificial Intelligence Wars session, was completed under the moderation of MÜSİAD Sector Boards and Fair and Forum Commission Chairman Erkan Gül, with the speeches of FutureBright Group Co-Founder Akan Abdula, HAVELSAN Information and Communication Technologies Business Development Director Dr. Arif Furkan Mendi and Director of the TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Artificial Intelligence Institute Dr. Mehmet Haklıdır. At the closing ceremony of the programme, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Türkiye Abdulkadir Uraloğlu delivered his speech and the summit came to an end.
