KUALA LUMPUR: Austrian Ambassador to Malaysia Dr. Michael Postl believes Malaysia has the potential to be a cybersecurity hub within the Asia-Pacific region.
"Malaysia’s strategic geographical location within the Asia-Pacific region, coupled with the country’s cybersecurity professionals and talent who I find to be hard-working, English-speaking and working in harmony are positive traits which bode well for the country,” said Postl.
“I have been impressed with Malaysia’s digital economy, which contributed 18.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018, and how it has emerged as an engine of growth for the country,” he added.
Postl said like Malaysia, Austria also places great emphasis on the digital economy and has since implemented Digital Roadmap Austria.
“Digitisation offers key technologies for the development of economic and social innovations,” he said.
Postl was speaking at the launch of TÜV AUSTRIA Cybersecurity Lab Sdn Bhd, an Austrian-Malaysian joint-venture between TÜV TRUST IT, a member of the TÜV AUSTRIA Group, and LGMS of Malaysia.
TÜV AUSTRIA is an international testing, inspection and certification (TIC) company with more than 2,000 staff delivering expert services in more than 20 countries worldwide.
Founded and based in Austria, the TÜV AUSTRIA Group generates some €220m (RM1 billion) in annual revenue today.
Malaysia’s LGMS is one of the region’s leading end-to-end cybersecurity firms with renowned brands courting its expertise.
The company has been accredited with multiple international certifications and recognitions, including International Data Corporation (IDC), which recognised LGMS as one of the world’s leading IoT (internet-of-things) key penetration testing vendors in a 2019 IDC report.
Under the partnership, TÜV AUSTRIA Cybersecurity Lab Sdn Bhd will house a global Cybersecurity Testing and Certification Center of Excellence (CoE) to serve both domestic and international markets.
“TÜV AUSTRIA Cybersecurity Lab will go a long way in solidifying Malaysia as Asia‘s foremost authority in cybersecurity assessment, testing, and certification,” said LGMS group managing director Fong Choong-Fook.
He explained that TÜV AUSTRIA Cybersecurity Lab would be instrumental in helping organisations identify vulnerabilities within their IT infrastructure before recommending measures to maintain and to constantly improve on their security levels.
“At the same time, our join-venture will also stimulate the Industry 4.0 Cyber Security Testing & Certifications ecosystem while driving the protection of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI),” Fong added.
Meanwhile, TÜV AUSTRIA Group chief executive officer Dr Stefan Haas considers establishing a cybersecurity CoE jointly with LGMS as one of the most auspicious developments in its company’s history.
“We offer certifications based on international and TÜV proprietary standards that document the efficiency and security of customer demands,” he further said, adding that organisations can profit from the well-known brand TÜV and gain a competitive advantage with the TÜV seal.
Postl concluded by expressing his happiness in seeing yet another established Austrian name investing in Malaysia.
“It is heartening to note that, under this partnership, both the TÜV AUSTRIA Group and LGMS will be exchanging knowledge, expertise and research and development (R&D) in this growing field of cybersecurity, thus creating a ‘win-win’ situation for all concerned,” he said.