Minister confirms long-denied claims that data on millions of citizens was stolen from the e-government system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abdulkadir Uraloglu, Turkey’s Minister for Transportation and Infrastructure, has become the first senior official to confirm that citizens’ data was stolen during the pandemic from the online government services system, E-Devlet.
“Some data was unfortunately obtained in a certain way during the [COVID-19] pandemic. Unfortunately, it could not have been prevented,” Uraloglu said in Ankara on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.
He did not specify how and when the data was stolen.
In June 2023, it was revealed that a website called sorgupaneli.org was offering Turkish citizens’ private data that was stolen from the e-Devlet website. It even claimed it could offer President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s personal information.
The website offered the hacked information for free in return for a membership signup including ID numbers, phone numbers and information about people’s family members.
More sensitive information, including full addresses, real estate deeds and educational details, was offered with a paid premium membership.
When BIRN accessed the website, it said the personal data on offer included information about top officials including President Erdogan and Turkey’s former main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Experts said the data theft was the biggest ever in Turkey and constituted a major digital security problem.
The data is still being sold today via different websites and Telegram groups, BIRN’s Digital Rights Monitoring reported.
Until Uraloglu made his statement, authorities had remained silent on the issue or had denied the claims.
E-Devlet, which means e-government, is the main public administration portal in Turkey, and contains personal information including details about people’s education, health, banking credentials and tax status.
For years, the website has been accused of not being secure enough. Authorities dismissed the claims.
BIRN’s latest Digital Rights Violations Report said state institutions and citizens in the Balkans including Turkey are being targeted by cyberattacks and scams, and citizens’ data has been stolen in various incidents, mostly due to governments’ inability to protect it properly.
“Governments’ responses to these incidents were often ineffective and the attackers were not identified,” the report said.