Watchdog: Western tech use for hacking in Turkey, Syria

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PARIS — Researchers have found evidence that one of Turkey’s largest telecommunications providers is using Canadian hardware to hack into the computers of hundreds of internet users along the country’s border with Syria.

The revelation comes as Turkey presses its offensive against Kurdish rebels dug in along the country’s frontier with northwestern Syria, a conflict which has cost scores of lives and threatens to disrupt the U.S.-led effort to extinguish the Islamic State group.

The findings come from Internet watchdog Citizen Lab, which traced the hacking activity to the Turkish provinces of Adana, Hatay, Gaziantep, Diyarbakir as well as parts of the Turkish capital, Ankara.

Citizen Lab linked the hacking to telecommunications company Turk Telekom and to devices made by Canadian firm Sandvine.