Turkey adds GitHub to the ban list, removes Google Drive

Oct 10, 2016 21:35 GMT  ·  By

Turkey has blocked access to Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and GitHub in order to prevent its citizens from accessing a series of controversial files dumped online by the RedHack hacking crew.

The block was put in motion on Saturday, October 8, and initially targeted Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive.

Officials removed Google Drive from the list today after Google complied with a takedown notice from the government and removed the RedHack data from their servers.

GitHub added to the blocklist today

A few hours later, officials added GitHub to the list, after users uploaded the data on the source code hosting service in an attempt to avoid the local ban on cloud-based file sharing services.

TurkeyBlocks, a service which keeps track of websites blocked in the country, says that Twitter has been intermittently inaccessible throughout Turkey over the weekend.

According to several reports, in late September, RedHack, a hacking crew with a prodigious hacking history and ties to Turkey's communist political movement, had dumped online 20 GB of data.

Turkey trying to hide AKP Twitter troll army?

The group claims to have stolen the data from three email accounts belonging to Turkey’s Energy Minister, Berat Albayrak, who is also the son-in-law of the country's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to reports from Turkish journalists, the data dump contained details about a so-called "Twitter troll army," made up of AKP party members who viciously attacked anyone criticizing the country's president and the Turkish government, who has been contested in recent years following mass street protests.

In July, during a failed military coup, Turkey also blocked access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

In 2014, Turkey blocked Twitter and YouTube after someone leaked an audio recording of President Erdogan, then only a Prime Minister, instructing his son to get rid of a large sum of money after police started investigating their family on corruption charges.