Turkish telecom giant, bank targeted by cyber attacks

A number of Turkish companies were targeted in cyber attacks, including the country's telecom giant Türk Telekom and Garanti BBVA bank, which caused disruptions in their website accesses.

Duvar English

Several major Turkish companies were targeted by cyber attacks on Oct. 27, with users being unable to access the firms' websites throughout the day.

The attacks were carried out against Turkish telecom giant Türk Telekom and the country's Garanti BBVA bank, which led to disruptions in access to their websites before the companies were able to stop the attacks.

A statement was released by Türk Telekom Deputy General Manager Yusuf Kıraç regarding the cyber attack that was thought to have been carried out as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack.

"We, as several institutions, had to go through one of the cyber attacks that plenty of institutions and even states across the world have been subjected to. The attack was warded off by information, communications and technology company Türk Telekom's qualified cyber security experts through a timely response," Kıraç said, adding that "similar attacks can take place anytime."

"The important thing is to be prepared for such things. Türk Telekom's defense system against all sorts of attacks is solid," he also said.

Another statement was released from Garanti, which said that those who want to access the bank's website inside Turkey are able to, while access from outside Turkey is still problematic as of noon Oct. 28.

"There is no risk in terms of the confidentiality of our customers' information and financial security," it added.