The international hacking group Anonymous launched a series of cyberattacks against Turkish banks over Christmas, in retaliation for what the group says is Turkey’s support for the Islamic State.
“The attacks are serious,” Onur Oz, a spokesman for Internet provider Turk Telekom, told Reuters. “But the target is not Turk Telekom. Instead, banks and public institutions are under heavy attack.”
“A majority of Turkish institutions use Turk Telekom as the service provider, therefore we are the ones doing the defense against these attacks,” he added.
Burak Atakani, a network specialist from Istanbul Technical University, noted that the “attacks began two weeks ago but … intensified” from Dec. 23-25.
Turkish media suggested there were indications the latest attacks came from Russia. Russia’s engagement with the Islamic State has strained relations between the two countries in recent months: Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border in November, and Russia has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of turning a blind eye to the terrorist organization’s activity.
Though the attacks over Christmas disrupted some government websites and banking transactions, a spokesman for President Erdogan told reporters on Monday that the country had “successfully repelled” most of the attacks, and was working to enhance cybersecurity.
Last week, Anonymous crashed more than 40,000 Turkish Internet domain names using distributed denial-of-service attacks. The group said it was going to continue attacking Turkish infrastructure until the country’s government acted responsively to Russian claims that it is allowing elements of the Islamic State to smuggle oil across the country’s border.
“If you do not stop supporting ISIS, we will continue attacking your Internet, your root [domain name system], your banks, and take your government sites down,” the group said in a video on YouTube. “After your root DNS, we will start to hit your airports, military assets, and private state connections. We will destroy your critical banking infrastructure.”
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“Stop this insanity now, Turkey. Your fate is in your own hands,” the video concludes.
