Buckshot Yankee (Pentagon Hacked via USB), Web3, ZKP – and Why Türkiye Is Ahead in Digital Government

Türkiye’s “e-Devlet” (e-Government) system is a national platform where you can complete nearly all public and administrative tasks online without ever needing to physically visit a government office. It’s a fantastic system.

As of today:

• Total login count: 22,509,389,068
• Total service count: 8,429

If you’d like to see other official stats like male/female user counts, feel free to check out this link: https://www.turkiye.gov.tr/edevlet-istatistikleri

It’s a one-click gateway to almost 8,500 services. This system is unique, and it works incredibly well. When you think about how people in Germany still communicate with their government by fax and post, it becomes easier to understand why Türkiye is far ahead in digital transformation.

But being ahead comes with greater responsibility and risk.

Though e-Government is a theoretically brilliant solution, it brings along serious security concerns. While there’s no official statement that data has leaked directly from the e-Government system, it’s widely reported that various data about Turkish citizens has been leaked or stolen (residential addresses, names, phone numbers, family info, etc.).

Türkiye used to publish massive physical phone books where you could find people’s home addresses, phone numbers, full names, and more. With some basic online research today, you’ll see that these are still available in multiple places.

While such data being public might have been tolerable in the past, it’s significantly more dangerous in today’s digital world. The same data sets now have much more severe implications.

Can data theft be prevented?

No.

If something is stored digitally, it is almost impossible to prevent it from being stolen or leaked. Every day we hear about massive data breaches around the world — including banking details, usernames, passwords, and more.

And it’s not always about online attacks. Sometimes, physical access is all it takes.

Buckshot Yankee

Have you heard of “Buckshot Yankee”? In 2008, a USB stick infected with malware was left lying around a U.S. military base. A soldier picked it up and, unknowingly, plugged it into a computer. The malware spread and infected the U.S. Department of Defense networks. It’s known as one of the worst cyber breaches in U.S. military history.

What’s the lesson here? You can’t prevent all attacks — because the threats don’t come in just one form. Even if your system is secure from the outside, internal breaches are always possible.

Countries without e-Government systems aren’t more secure.

In fact, they are less prepared to detect whether data has been leaked — or to even understand what countermeasures might be needed if something goes wrong.

Take Germany, for example: Just last year, the country experienced multiple espionage and cyber attack cases. According to BITKOM research, nearly €267 billion (~$298 billion) was lost. And that’s just the publicly disclosed amount. Most likely, it’s even higher.

Can this be prevented?

Not with Web2 or legacy storage systems. As long as systems rely on old methods of storing data, there is no real solution.

Storage methods have remained mostly the same, while attack vectors and toolsets have evolved drastically. Web2-based storage is outdated and struggles with optimization. Meanwhile, hacking toolsets have outpaced Web2 in both complexity and capabilities — for years.

Any system that doesn’t adapt to Web3 or use ZKP is doomed to be breached.

What is ZKP and how can it be integrated with Web3?

Let’s be clear: ZKP (Zero-Knowledge Proof) is not a storage method. It’s a cryptographic technique that proves something is true without revealing the actual information. And this matters immensely for governments, institutions, and individuals.

Example: A government system can prove that you’re eligible to vote without knowing who you are. Or prove that you're a citizen without accessing your entire registry record. The same can apply to finance, health, and countless other areas.

ZKP allows for verification without surveillance. It enables security without compromising privacy. And that’s exactly what’s needed in today’s digital systems.

Türkiye is in a unique position.

We’ve already built the infrastructure. We’ve already brought digital transformation to the population. The next step is to make it future-proof — to make it secure and private with Web3 and ZKP integrations.

If Türkiye makes the right moves, it can become the global leader in digital government infrastructure — not just in service count, but in data privacy and cryptographic security as well.

Thanks for reading.
If this inspired you or if you’re working on related tech, let’s connect.
— Devdeed