Turkey Investigates Cyberattack Possibility in Customs System Crash

Turkey is investigating the possibility that a cyberattack has crashed the country's customs system causing significant bottlenecks at frontier checkpoints.

Last week, the computer system used at Turkish customs suffered a downtime of several days after experiencing severe problems.

The technical issues forced workers to rely on pen and paper to do their job, but this slow method lead to long lines of trailers and trucks forming at checkpoints.

Today's Zaman reports that Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici traveled to Washington D.C. last Friday in order to learn more about the software used at U.S. customs.

He also revealed that a cyberattack simulation is planned in order to test his country's current system for weak spots against such threats.

"We cannot come right to the conclusion and say ill-intentioned people are behind this, but we have to look at all the possibilities.

"Was our system tampered with when it was frozen? Naturally we are considering that as well," Yazici told reporters.

Suspicions of tampering run high giving that the incident occurred shortly after a corruption investigation targeting customs officials was announced.

At the middle of January, authorities arrested the Istanbul customs department's head, the head of customs at Ataturk Airport and three others workers on charges of bribery.

A number of 41 other people were also questioned in connection with the six-month long probe and many could have charges filed against them as the case unfolds.

Some companies are suspected to have bribed corrupt customs officials in order to avoid paying taxes for goods brought into the country.

Under these circumstances it's not unlikely that someone might be seeking revenge on the government for ruining their profitable business arrangement.

There is a growing pressure from the general public in Turkey for the government to crack down on corruption.