You can also access the interview conducted by our founder Erdem Eriş with the IEEE THKU Student Branch at https://blog.ieeethku.com/genel/siber-guvenlik-ozel-roportaj/

OUR SPECIAL INTERVIEW ON CYBER SECURITY IS WITH YOU, WITH ERDEM ERIS, COMPUTER ENGINEER, FOUNDER OF CYBERARTS!

1) As a successful computer engineer, how did you decide on the field you would like to focus on from among many fields, can you talk about this process?

When I started my undergraduate education at Boğaziçi University Computer Engineering after İzmir Science High School, what I had in mind was to continue an academic career and to do R&D projects. If a person is lucky, he knows himself better only during the university period. As an academically successful student in the process until university, Science/Math and then engineering education develops in its natural flow. During my university years, I realized that I wanted to use my technical education and knowledge in areas such as business development, project management and product management that could guide the digital transformation of institutions and provide the opportunity to work one-on-one with decision makers in institutions. My internships also helped me to see the real working environment and the duties of the departments closely. Afterwards, I had the chance to gain experience in both domestic and international companies in the fields of Information Technologies, Telecommunication and Cyber Security and to work as top managers. I founded CyberArts 4 years ago with the philosophy of "making art in the cyber world".

2) Where should our students who want to work in the field of Cyber Security start, what are your suggestions for beginners?

Cyber security is a multi-disciplinary field with different sub-titles. Software development, hardware development, platform development, information security consultancy, GRC consultancy, integration, MSSP, SOC, penetration testing, incident response, threat intelligence, … It is very important that my friends try to discover which sub-fields they are more willing and capable of before they graduate from university. For this, it is beneficial for them to gain experience in internships and workplace trainings in institutions where they can actually get involved and produce work. I also recommend that they actively participate in club activities, follow the developments in the world closely and improve their English level.
While the cyber security market was 3.5 billion dollars in 2005, it has reached 200 billion dollars in 2020 and it is a market that is growing with each new technological development. On the other hand, while the damage caused by cybercrime was 125 billion dollars in 2005, it has reached 6 trillion dollars in 2020. Being in the cyber security sector means in a cyber world where asymmetrical power usage is possible; It means following new attack types, new ways of working such as working from home brought by the pandemic, digital transformation that accelerated by X5 times, changing attack surfaces, new technologies, new defense methods, constantly improving oneself and being ready 24/7. Let me study 5X9 or learn something, I'll eat it for years, is not an approach that will bring success in the cyber security industry.

3) What is the importance of certificates in the cyber security sector, is it possible to reach good places in the cyber security sector without having certain certificates?

If I had to offer one simple suggestion to be successful, "Do what you love and love what you do." i say. A person should do a job that he loves, enjoys, and sees as a hobby. It is also important in which company culture and with which teammates you work. I'm not talking about a purely pleasure-oriented approach. Of course, there are pleasant and unpleasant aspects of every job. This is where loving what you do comes into play. When these two come together and experience is added to it, success is inevitable. Certifications are valuable in that a person works in a disciplined way towards a goal in their areas of focus, and learns best practices and a system-oriented approach. On the other hand, the lessons he took during his school life and the experiences he gained in business life before starting his career are both more difficult and more valuable than getting a certificate.

4) Do you have any resources (website, book, training etc.) that you would recommend for our student friends who want to improve themselves in the field of cyber security?

The new generation of young minds, who know what they are looking for and how to search, are very successful in reaching these resources. I don't want to share a clear list. There may be sources that I can skip, and I don't want to be distracted with a very large list. Of course, there are resources that I can suggest when asked individually.

5) What do you think about the situation of Turkey in the field of cyber security compared to other countries?

Turkey is the country with the most cyber attacks in the world in 2020. In our country, 3 malware attacks are carried out every minute, 1.6 million per year. Corporate networks, on the other hand, receive 200,000 attacks per year. In the last 3 years, there has been an incredible increase in attacks against and within Turkey. Another thing to remember is that cyber security is not a classical software or hardware development area. Cyber ​​security; NATO's 5th Battlefield after land, air, sea and space. Throughout our 2500-year history, it has always been a privilege to be a "Turkish" when "war" is mentioned. Therefore, the way for Turkish-made products and services is clear in cyber security.

6) What kind of work does CyberArts do in the field of cyber security and what are its plans for the future?

CyberArts was founded in 2017 with the vision of “making art in the cyber world” based on 20 years of international ICT industry experience. At a time when digitalization is of vital importance for all institutions, there is a need for high quality and “sustainable” jobs. We offer consultancy and integration services in the fields of Cyber Security, Information Security, KVKK, ISO 27001 ISMS, ISO 27701 KVYS and Information Technologies. While providing these services to institutions, all management and responsibility belongs to CyberArts; In addition to our own team, we bring together the experience and efforts of manufacturers, law firms and academics who are experts in their fields. In this sense, as the trusted advisors of our customers, we perform the 'conductorship' required by large projects on behalf of our customers. We serve Turkey's largest institutions. Our customers include domestic and international institutions from different sectors such as finance, telecom, production, construction, marketing, technology, service, textile and public. On the other hand, as one of the founding members of the Turkey Cyber Security Cluster; In all of our possible projects, we make positive discrimination to domestic cyber security technologies that have proven their sustainability, have a global vision and are focused.
In the future, as up to the present; We want to continue our growth line with firm steps by deepening our long-standing relationships built on trust. We are planning to open our overseas offices in the near future. We aim to further increase our contribution to the development of domestic cyber security technologies.