The personal data of 108 million Turkish citizens including deceased individuals has been stolen, forcing the government to ask Google for assistance in removing files uploaded by the hackers, the Free Web Turkey platform reported.
The personal data, including citizens’ names, national ID numbers, home addresses and mobile phone numbers, was stolen from official databases. The breach, which involved 82 million home addresses and 134 million cell phone numbers, was discovered by the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM).
USOM, operating under the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), confirmed that the stolen data was uploaded to five Google Drive files. The hackers stored the information in MySQL database formats MYD and MYI, which allow handling large datasets.
The BTK acknowledged it could not protect the data and formally requested Google’s assistance in removing the files and providing information about the hackers’ accounts, IP addresses and port numbers. The request, marked “Urgent,” highlighted the risk of identity theft and other cyberattacks.
Free Web Turkey previously reported another data breach in 2023, prompting legal action by the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), which argued that the breach threatened privacy, freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial.
Investigative journalists have previously claimed criminal groups infiltrated Turkey’s e-government website and other government-related sites and had access to the identity and other personal information of Turkish citizens, including those of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and then-National Intelligence Organization (MİT) undersecretary and current foreign minister Hakan Fidan.
