Turkey has just earned a new badge of incompetence, and this one’s digital.
On Sept. 9, the government confirmed what cybercriminals likely celebrated months ago: the personal data of 108 million Turkish citizens has been compromised.
We're talking first names, last names, ID numbers, birthplaces, marital statuses, and even mobile numbers.
If you’re Turkish, your info might as well be hanging on a billboard somewhere.
Not to mention, our team discovered this data leak from a dark web forum post a few months ago.
Turkey's Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, acknowledged the breach but downplayed the consequences.
According to him, this information was obtained from the health-care system during the pandemic.
In other words, “Oops, but it's old news!” He assures everyone that no current information has been stolen. That's somewhat comforting.
Uraloğlu's attempt to calm the storm proved unsuccessful. Critics, particularly Burhanettin Bulut from the opposing party, seized the opportunity to throw some shade.
Bulut went straight for the jugular, claiming that the minister should resign because a breach of this magnitude would end a career in any “normal” country.
According to reports, the data breach affects more than just Turkish citizens. Refugees and those living abroad who have registered with official institutions are equally vulnerable.
To make matters worse, it appears that Google was forced to step in to clean up the mess. Turkish officials contacted the tech giant after discovering files containing sensitive data floating around in Google Drive folders.
Let us not forget the scope of this leak: 108.57 million identification numbers, 82.32 million addresses, and 134.82 million telephone numbers.
That would make any identity thief happy. The damage is done, but what's more concerning is how little action has been taken since this became public.
Turkey's government continues to dismiss the incident as if it were just another day at the office.
For the citizens whose information is now public, “just another day” is far from the truth.