The Turkish think tank, STM ThinkTech, has released its first Cyber Threat Status Report of 2023, which includes data from January to March of the same year. The report examined eight key aspects of cyber security, such as phishing traps enabled by the earthquake in February and the use of ChatGPT in cyber attacks.
Cyber attackers used different methods to try and make money from unsuspecting victims by creating fraudulent donation sites. Additionally, they named their websites and platforms similar to official institutions such as AFAD and Kızılay to build credibility.
The report focused on ChatGPT, the fastest-growing application in the internet’s history. Reaching up to 45 million daily visitors in February, its potential for misuse by cyber criminals was discussed. Fake e-mail templates created using ChatGPT were difficult to distinguish, which made it easy for attackers to send phishing e-mails. Fake news was also created with its text generation capabilities, and executables written in different programming languages were made easier to create. This meant that any person without prior experience in cyber security could construct malicious software.
The cyber security of drones was looked at in the report as well, with tactics such as WiFi jamming used to take advantage of the devices’ vulnerabilities and inject malware into them. Methods to prevent these attacks were mentioned.
The data collected by STM’s Honeypot sensors revealed the countries with the highest cyber-attacks around the world. During the three months covered in the report, Russia led the pack with 481 thousand attacks, followed by the Netherlands with 394 thousand. Other countries include the United States, China, India, Vietnam, Germany, Turkey, Romania and South Korea.
The cyber security experts at STM ThinkTech have identified the potential risks and provided insights into how best to protect from cyber threats. Their experience with many projects in the realm of cyber security makes them a reliable source of information for the growing cyber security climate of Turkey.
