Tensions between Turkey and Greece Spill into Cyberspace
Tensions between NATO allies and neighbours Turkey and Greece, most recently over access to energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, spilled over into cyberspace last month, as hackers targeted state institutions in each country.
First, a Turkish hacking group called ‘Anka Neferler Tim’ [Anka Soldiers Team] took credit in mid-January for taking down the websites of Greece’s foreign ministry, parliament and National Intelligence Service using a distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack.
A Greek government spokesman said the January 17 attack did not breach any secure systems or result in loss of data, and Athens stopped short of blaming Turkey or Turkish actors directly.
But according to a Reuters investigation published in January, hackers acting in Turkish interests have targeted dozens of organisations and government institutions in Europe and the Middle East, including Greece and Cyprus, over the past couple of years.
Greek hackers responded the next day, on January 18, with a group called ‘Anonymous Greece’ claiming to have targeted the Turkish emergency services and several media outlets by disabling their phone and email services.
A cyber security expert, who declined to be named, said that during the cyber salvoes, Turkey’s largest Internet provider, Turk Telekom, also came under attack, disrupting its service for hours. It is unclear whether Greek hackers were to blame.
“This is, yet again, another demonstration of reckless (and petty) national posturing that further exacerbates rising tensions between two NATO members, endangers access to public services as well as the cyber sovereignty of both countries, and ultimately undermines trust between Greek and Turkish citizens at a time when collaboration is needed the most, given challenges ranging from migration to the climate,” said Balkans-based Internet governance consultant Michael J. Oghia.
State sponsorship hard to prove
Turkey and Greece are locked in an intensifying row over rights to exploit energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean, a dispute that has played into Athens and Ankara courting opposing sides of the ongoing conflict in Libya.
At issue is a maritime border deal Turkey struck with Libya in November 2019, on the basis of which Ankara says it plans to issue new exploration licenses in the eastern Mediterranean over the objections of Athens.
Cyber experts say it is virtually impossible to establish a direct link between states and hackers who sometimes appear to act in their interests.
“Accurately determining the organic relation is either technically so complicated and long or near to impossible,” said Istanbul-based strategic cyber security researcher Minhac Celik.
“There are cases like Russian election meddling or North Korean hacking operations where the US can successfully trace back the IP addresses involving the attack and indicate the relation,” Celik told BIRN. “But this is not the case for the recent Greek–Turkish cyber escalation.”
“The technical complexity of an attack is a factor which helps experts to analyse the state’s support,” he said.
“If the attack requires strong technical infrastructure — I do not mean expertise and capability which deals with the individuals conducting the attack — there may be a state sponsoring the attack. In [the] Turkish-Greek case, Greek media said the attack type was DDoS, which does not need high technical expertise and strong infrastructure.”
Wake-up call for cyber defences
Both Celik and Greek freelance journalist and tech enthusiast Vassilis Trikoupis said the cyber conflict should serve as a wake-up call for states involved to step up their cyber defences.
“Regardless of if the players are under direct governmental command, it is more than certain that investing in governmental cyber security is crucial to national security,” said Trikoupis.
“Imagine a possible interception of sensitive data from the National Intelligence Agency. The diplomatic implications would probably be devastating”.
Observers expect that both sides will ultimately keep a lid on tensions.
“There have been ongoing tensions between Greece and Turkey regarding the energy resources around Cyprus, and drilling activities in the Mediterranean Sea lately,” said Turkish journalist Ipek Yezdani.
“This is a serious issue because both sides claim legal rights in the energy resources around Cyprus. However, I don’t believe that this could lead to a bigger security confrontation between Ankara and Athens.”
“First of all, they are both NATO member countries, and if we look at their recent history, these kind of political tensions always rise occasionally.”
Originally published at Balkan Insight on February 28, 2020
