PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's strong presence in the cyber security sector has attracted many foreign companies to invest here.
The latest international player to set up shop in Malaysia is Turkish company May Cyber Teknoloji, which is establishing its regional office in the country.
Slated to begin operations early next year, the office will be the company’s first major presence outside of Turkey.
A leading company based in Ankara, May Cyber Teknoloji develops and manufactures cyber security products, especially in the fields of network access control, security incident management, network monitoring, encryption and compliance management.
"We look forward to… expanding our services and technological expertise to Asean countries, including members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
"Therefore, we (are) setting up our first regional office in Malaysia and will collaborate with local company Nexagate Sdn Bhd to promote technology transfer," said the company’s chairman, Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, after the Monday signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CyberSecurity Malaysia on strengthening cyber security infrastructures.
CyberSecurity was represented by its chief executive officer Datuk Dr Amirudin Abdul Wahab.
The MoU identifies three areas of collaboration: research and development covering the areas of cyber security technical tools, methods and processes; capacity building through competency training programmes and cyber security skills; and developing marketing strategies to promote cyber security.
An action plan will be developed to assist and monitor the implementation of activities and promote information sharing between the two parties in order to realise the collaboration areas.
The MoU signing was witnessed by CyberSecurity Board of Directors chairman General Tan Sri Mohd Azumi Mohamed.
"Through this partnership, CyberSecurity Malaysia will contribute to the foreign direct investment of the national cyber security industry, as it has successfully convinced foreign cyber security players to invest in Malaysia.
"We have always been at the forefront of encouraging investments that can provide Malaysia with advanced technologies which help ensure that our cyber environment is reliable, safe and trustworthy," Azumi said.
Malaysia is an attractive destination for foreign players in the cyber security sector, as companies from as far away as Russia have set up their regional hub here, CyberSecurity’s Amirudin said.
It was reported that the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector is expected to contribute 18.2 per cent, or approximately RM34.9 billion, to the country's gross domestic product by 2020.