On December 15, the Bilkent University–TÜSİAD Information Society Forum held a conference on “Data Security in Business” at Çırağan Palace Kempinski İstanbul.
Opening remarks were offered by Prof. H. Altay Güvenir, chair of the Bilkent University Department of Computer Engineering and director of the Forum; Filiz Akdede, chair of the TÜSİAD working group on IT and telecommunications; and Erol Bilecik, president of TÜSİAD. “In the business world,” observed Mr. Bilecik, “we must take advantage of digital transformation opportunities, and must also be ready for and protected against the associated risks.”
The program proceeded with a presentation by Prof. Engin Kırda, co-founder of Lastline, Inc., and a faculty member at Northeastern University in the US, on the topic of “Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity: Reality or Exaggeration?” Next, Engin Özbay, the IBM Turkey security leader, outlined the steps that organizations can take to be prepared against cyberattacks, while new-generation cybersecurity approaches were outlined in a presentation by Berna Kulaksız, senior manager for enterprise solutions at Vodaphone.
Ozan Öncel, solution sales manager for business applications and the modern workplace at Microsoft, then discussed ways to protect personal data in the cloud and mobile technology environment. The final presentation was given by Fatih Emiral, a partner in BTRisk, who used a hacking scenario to illustrate the damage that malicious software could potentially inflict on businesses and organizations.