Hackers step up cyberattacks in Turkey, hit banks

[ellenrr]

Source: Reuters via Al Arabiya

Turkish banks reported sporadic disruption to credit card transactions on Friday as hackers stepped up a two-week barrage of cyberattacks, believed to be the worst the country has seen.

Local media have suggested that the bombardment of public and financial websites could be coming from Russia, after a sharp worsening of tensions between Moscow and Ankara, or staged by hacking group Anonymous. But no clear evidence has emerged, and authorities have avoided pointing the finger.

Officials at several Turkish banks including Isbank, Garanti and state lender Ziraat Bank confirmed the attacks, saying they had caused intermittent disruption. Bank shares were unmoved by the news.

“The attacks are serious,” said Onur Oz, a spokesman for Internet provider Turk Telekom. “But the target is not Turk Telekom. Instead, banks and public institutions are under heavy attack,” he said.

Read more: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2015/12/25/Hackers-step-up-cyberattacks-in-Turkey-hit-banks-.html

[Xolodno]

1. Makes me wonder....

...what did "Anonymous" find out about Turkey to focus on them......

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Turkey may be enabling the sale of oil from ISIS

Or it may be Turkey's attacks on Kurds.

Or maybe Anonymous is commemorating 100 years since the Armenian Genocide.

[marble falls]

3. Why are they destabilizing Turkey? Why are they only messing with ISIS...

websites? Why aren't shutting down ISIS financial workings?

I think Anonymous has been co-opted or corrupted.

[dembotoz]

4. russia should remain a prime suspect

state sponsored???? i dunno

would tend to trust anonymous more than the putin

[IDemo]

5. I'd be curious what constitutes a hacker's affiliation with 'Anonymous'

They obviously don't have an open membership database. Does anyone who is inclined to engage in hacking with political ends get to append an 'Anonymous' tag or does the group expect a more rigorous test of its adherents?

note - I could not hack my way into a wet paper server hard drive and will readily admit it, just so the NSA doesn't place a checkmark next to my entry in the database.

[trillion]

6. Everyone should worry abou t this. Every country. We've all been hacked several times over already.

The US needs to issue new social security numbers and not allow any companies to use them, and the banks all need to issue new numbers and not tie it to any social security number.

We're running out of time. Which country will be the first one drained of it's finances? Will the world wake up then? It is coming.

[FrodosPet]

7. In Sweden, a Cash-Free Future Nears

Perhaps someone can point this out to Abba's Bjorn Ulvaeus?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/27/business/international/in-sweden-a-cash-free-future-nears.html?_r=0

STOCKHOLM — Parishioners text tithes to their churches. Homeless street vendors carry mobile credit-card readers. Even the Abba Museum, despite being a shrine to the 1970s pop group that wrote “Money, Money, Money,” considers cash so last-century that it does not accept bills and coins.

Few places are tilting toward a cashless future as quickly as Sweden, which has become hooked on the convenience of paying by app and plastic.

~ snip ~

[Blue_Tires]

8. Russia...

I'm sure Greenwald and Snowden will be the first to denounce this...