Asia Cybersecurity Exchange launched to elevate Malaysia’s cybersecurity ecosystem

Asia Cybersecurity Exchange (AsiaCyberX) is the brainchild of leading cybersecurity company LE Global Services Sdn Bhd (LGMS) to advocate and support cybersecurity entrepreneurship, while also nurturing skilled cybersecurity professionals to meet the growing demand in this space. It also serves as a key catalyst for the cybersecurity ecosystem, both locally and regionally.

“AsiaCyberX’s mission is to identify undiscovered cybersecurity talents and entrepreneurs with huge growth potential. With our training and mentorship programmes, we aim to elevate Malaysia’s cybersecurity ecosystem to a whole new level by strengthening the capabilities of local talent and entrepreneurs,” said LGMS chief executive officer Fong Choong Fook.

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“By increasing the diversity of the cybersecurity workforce, we believe we will be able to create a broader pool of cybersecurity talent and to muster the right talent to develop rich responses to the increasing threat of cybersecurity attacks,” added Fong, a 20-year cybersecurity veteran and who has advised and trained multiple government bodies and multinational companies throughout the Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Africa regions.

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LGMS chief executive officer Fong Choong Fook

“Our ultimate aim is to elevate Malaysia as a hub for cybersecurity talent and entrepreneurship,” said Fong.

AsiaCyberX is solely owned by ACE Accelerator Network Sdn Bhd, and was formed out of a partnership between LGMS and the ACE Group, which is involved in financial services, investments and capital management.

“A fund of US$50 million or RM200 million is available for start-ups with high growth potential in the area of cybersecurity,” said ACE Group Chairman Tan Sri Dato’ Ahmad Fuzi Haji Abdul Razak.

The AsiaCyberX initiative is supported by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), who was represented by director Wan Murdani.

MDEC is also partnering with LGMS to roll out a 12-month MDEC Cybersecurity Development Program.

This will be achieved via a full schedule of activities, including cybersecurity conferences, hackathons, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) roundtables as well as industry collaboration workshops over the next 12 months.

“The partnership is all about the best and most effective way to build talent in a very critical area as quickly and effectively as possible. MDEC, as the key agency responsible for developing the digital economy, recognises that AsiaCyberX can be such a platform,” said Murdani.

The partnership targets to train as many as 240 cybersecurity specialists in the next 12 months with an aim of increasing the number from next year onwards.

“This partnership is a model example of successful Malaysian private-public partnerships, more so in the critical area of cybersecurity,” added Murdani.

“In cybersecurity, there will be multiple roles which need to be filled and will become increasingly in demand. These roles will cover a wide range of duties, from the security analysts who work to prevent and mitigate security breaches to security managers needed to develop and implement overarching processes to keep information private,” said Fong.

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The AsiaCyberX initiative is supported by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), who was represented by director Wan Murdani.

In conjunction with the launch of AsiaCyberX, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between the ACE Group and Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).

The MoU focuses on strategic collaboration between both parties in several research areas, capability building and training in conjunction with the establishment of Asia Cybersecurity Exchange.

The ACE Group have a combined paid-up capital of over RM600 million and investments in multiple publicly-listed companies throughout Malaysia.

Established in 2005, LGMS has earned a reputation for integrity, value and best practices by providing world-class cybersecurity professional services.

Today, LGMS provides cybersecurity services to numerous local and international financial institutions, telecommunications operators and various other industries regionally. To date, LGMS is also the first and only private consulting firm in Malaysia that is accredited with ISO7025 for its cybersecurity testing laboratory.

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