GDEX Delivery and the Race to Secure Digital Transformation
“Everyone is rushing toward digital transformation,” GDEX Chief Information Officer Melving Foong tells me. “While they are doing so, there seems to be lack of support in terms of cybersecurity investment and technology to help cybersecurity catch up to the pace of the transformation.”
Based in Malaysia, with a workforce of over 10,000, and a fleet size of over 6,000 vehicles operating in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam, regional logistics giant GD Express, or GDEX, has a rapidly growing footprint in Southeast Asia. Beneath the surface, the enterprise is supported by a vast and complex array of software, systems, and devices. And it’s up to Foong’s team to keep it all operational and secure.
As with many businesses pursuing an aggressive digital transformation roadmap, the potential attack surface expands at a corresponding pace — outgrowing the capabilities of legacy cybersecurity systems. As Foong says, “The traditional systems and architecture don’t work anymore. Adversaries are becoming more unique, more advanced, using new techniques — they have become very creative.”
He should know: Before becoming a CIO, he worked “in the trenches” of cybersecurity as a forensic investigator, unraveling the secrets of stealthy cyber adversaries attacking businesses and government institutions.
In this three-part podcast series, Foong and I discuss the cybersecurity challenges that GDEX and other organizations face today, and how he applies his unique background and skill set to overcome them. Watch Part 1 or read the excerpt below.
Steve Kovsky:
Melvin, tell us a little bit about GDEX.
Melvin Foong:
GDEX is the leading delivery company in the region with a headcount of more than 10,000. We are mainly in Malaysia, but also in Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Steve Kovsky:
You focus on “last-mile” delivery. I imagine it's been a very busy few years with the lockdown, and the rise of e-commerce to new levels. What's it been like in terms of growth for GDEX?
Melvin Foong:
Yes, I think you're right. Last-mile delivery has been a very big business for the past few years during the pandemic, but GDEX has also expanded into other services. For example, we are doing fulfillment right now, so warehouse fulfillment – and we are also into investment and technology groups.
Steve Kovsky:
You've got a very interesting background for the position you have, in that you started out selling and building computers, but very soon in your career, I think you moved into computer forensics. You spent a good deal of time doing that kind of work, studying incidents that happened to companies. What was that experience like and how does it inform what you do today?
Melvin Foong:
Well, the many years I spent when I first started in IT were spent in digital forensics, and I consider myself to be lucky, because in this new digital age, cybersecurity has been one of the needed skills I would say for CIOs, to make informed decisions to safeguard their companies. I think that cybersecurity has been a big challenge, but together with management skills and other skills, it will be an advantage to any chief information officer.
Steve Kovsky:
Well, I think it is a unique background for the position and in many ways, has set you up for the success that you've had. You've been able to work your way up very quickly to the position that you're in now, with one of the very important companies in the region. What are some of the reasons you think why they brought you into GDEX? Why was there a need for your abilities and knowledge at this time?
Melvin Foong:
Well, GDEX has always been a very technology-focused company compared to other similar sites in the industry. So, before my time, GDEX had a lot of inhouse-built systems. That’s an advantage in the industry because GDEX could customize to our partners’ needs and to our customers’ needs, so they were very technology-driven. When I was being brought in — with my experience in digital transformation, programming, databases, together with my cybersecurity experience — I think GDEX felt I was someone who could help the company. So, I hope that moving forward, GDEX will always do better in all four of these areas.
Steve Kovsky:
Looking at the bigger picture, what are some of the challenges companies are facing — in the region and globally — that are driving this renewed interest in security measures?
Melvin Foong:
There are a lot of challenges facing businesses nowadays. Everyone is rushing toward digital transformation, and while they are doing so, there seems to be some lack of support in terms of cybersecurity, to catch up to the pace of the transformation. There also seems to be a lack of support in terms of cybersecurity investment. We’ve seen more and more news about this challenge. It needs to be addressed, overall, from a top-down approach.
Steve Kovsky:
One of the side-effects of digital transformation is, you're taking what were previously backend systems that maybe did not have internet facing connections, and you’re putting that all out there. What effect does that have on the attack surface? Does it extend the attack surface? Does it put you in a different posture in terms of security?
Melvin Foong:
There will be more attack surface, and in terms of even application architectures, systems architecture, cloud technologies, remote working, and all this coming into place. The traditional systems and the traditional architecture do not work anymore. Adversaries are becoming more unique, more advanced, using new techniques – they have become very creative. So, there are more and more challenges along the way, when you want to transform a company digitally.
