Digital Trojan Horses…

Everything was easier in our childhood. We would play marbles in the streets, spin tops, and race downhill with homemade wooden carts. I loved playing marbles the most. The rules of the game, the skills required to win, and the consequences of losing were clear. Hitting the target marble was enough to win. When something broke, we could understand why.

Then I got a Commodore-64. I remember the days when I would wait for minutes to load a game from a cassette, sometimes restarting the whole process. Back then, we were in awe of technology.

In less than forty years, our cars, televisions, refrigerators, and even the door locks of our homes have become connected to the internet. It has become almost impossible to keep up with the pace of technological development. However, it is difficult to say that we are questioning the dependencies brought about by this development with the same speed.

Nowadays, to threaten the security of a country, one does not need to cross its borders, enter its airspace, or fire a single bullet. Accessing the technologies that the country uses is enough…

In December 2025, hundreds of Porsches in Russia became inoperable. The engines of the vehicles would not start due to an issue with their satellite-connected security systems. The incident was not proven to be a cyberattack. However, the result was clear: The operability of a car was dependent on digital systems that the owner could not directly control. I had drawn attention to this danger in my previous article as well.

In September 2026, the US Coast Guard and the FBI investigated suspicious cyber activity on two oil tankers. It was reported that there were signs of unauthorized access to the ships' networks and that navigation, propulsion, and cargo systems might have been affected. A person who can interfere with a ship's control systems threatens not only the ship but also its cargo, crew, the port, and the trade chain. As someone who has served on ships for years, this means a lot to me.

It was revealed that rental cars used in a military exercise in Norway were recording the movements of soldiers and the entry codes of military facilities. It was reported that some of the vehicles were of Chinese origin. It could not be proven that the data was transferred to other systems. Before questioning which country a vehicle that can record the security codes of a military facility was manufactured in, one must question why it collects this data, where it stores it, and to whom it grants access.

Another investigation conducted on Chinese electric buses in Norway also brought to the agenda the manufacturer's remote access privileges and the possibility that the vehicles could be rendered inoperable from the outside.

In France, in October 2026, the cooling systems of approximately 700 supermarkets were affected by cyberattacks. The temperatures of the refrigerators were tampered with, rendering food products unusable. You can spoil food by interfering with a market's cooling system. When you do this in hundreds of facilities, it is no longer just a business loss. It turns into an issue of food security and social resilience.

Moreover, the attacker may not even need to manage every device one by one in the future. Research published by Anthropic in October 2026 points out that small artificial intelligence models could approach the level of being able to run their own copies on internet-connected home devices. This does not mean that there are AIs multiplying uncontrollably in our homes today. However, it is a sufficient warning to question our current understanding of security. The danger is not so much how advanced AI has become, but how independently it can act in systems we cannot control.

So, what about Turkey? The statement by TEI General Manager Mahmut Faruk Akşit regarding the fact that foreign electric vehicles are not allowed into certain defense industry facilities shows that there are institutions in Turkey that are aware of this risk. But is the same approach applied in all our critical facilities?

Are the data collection and remote access capabilities of connected vehicles purchased for public institutions being independently audited? Is the manufacturer's remote intervention capacity being tested in the bus fleets of municipalities? Is there a common security standard for the camera, microphone, location, and data transfer features of vehicles entering military facilities, defense industry organizations, and critical infrastructure? Are realistic cyberattack drills being conducted in our ports, merchant ships, hospitals, and energy facilities?

There are, of course, institutions, legislation, and efforts regarding cybersecurity in Turkey. However, the existence of a regulation is not the same as that regulation being effectively implemented in the field. The issue is not whether we have a cybersecurity policy or not; it is how prepared we are when one of our critical systems is attempted to be disabled from the outside tomorrow…

For years, we evaluated security based on protecting physical borders. We reinforced doors, installed cameras, created patrols, and controlled entries and exits. Now we are in an era where even the car parked in front of that door can record what is happening inside. We are protecting the door. But who is protecting the data collected by the vehicle in front of the door?

Not using technology is not the solution. However, we must know the manufacturer's access privileges, where the data is kept, who approves software updates, and whether the system will continue to operate if the connection is lost. Because national security is not just about protecting borders and military facilities. A country's ability to operate its transportation, energy, communications, and critical infrastructure by its own will is also a part of national security.

In our childhood, we had control of the wooden cart. When we pulled the plug on the Commodore-64, it stopped working. Today, we must question who holds the control of the technologies we use.

To whom are Turkey's digital doors open? And do we really hold the keys to those doors?