14 DAY TRIAL // A couple of days ago, Turkey’s government has instated the Cyber Security Institution – an agency of 150 engineers whose main purpose is to protect the country’s networks from cyberattacks that come both from the inside and from other states.
Turkey’s Transportation and Communication Ministry is also expected to sign an agreement with the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) to further enhance the country’s capabilities to protect itself against cyberattacks, Hürriyet Daily News informs.
While the RedHack hacktivist collective is a primary objective for the Ankara government – the group’s members have been appointed as cyber terrorists – TÜBİTAK representatives claim that their task is an even more important one: to defend networks against attacks from other states.
They claim that the threat posed by Redhack is “overrated” since they’re not a permanent danger.
In the meantime, RedHack doesn’t seem to be too worried about the newly founded Cyber Security Institution.
“Some of the engineers appointed to this anti-hacker team are our friends. On the other hand, fighting against an ‘army’ of 150 engineers will be good for our own education too,” the hackers told the Turkish publication.
“RedHack consists of 12 members and has millions of supporters, as against the government’s team of 150,” they added.
“We have existed since 1997. A bunch of inexperienced engineers cannot fight a group like us.”
Turkey placed RedHack on the list of terrorist organizations after the hackers defaced the website of the Foreign Ministry, leaked records from the systems of the National Police, and revealed the identities of police informants.
The group has benefited from the support of other hacktivist groups as well. In July, Anonymous hackers threatened the Turkish government for naming the group cyber terrorists.
“We demand the cessation of these illegitimate attacks against RedHack. We demand the immediate release of innocent people who have nothing to do with RedHack. We demand the cessation of these operations to instill fear into those who work to uncover truth,” they said at the time.