OCTATCO CEO Lee Jaehyoung: “We Expect Over $500K in Revenue from Indonesia This Year”

• A rare move for a private company, OCTATCO hosted a local conference and exhibition in Indonesia: “Seeing results in other Southeast Asian countries as well”

“We expect to generate between $500,000 and $600,000 in revenue from Indonesia this year,” said Lee Jaehyoung, CEO of Korean authentication security company OCTATCO, during an interview at the company’s Pangyo headquarters on the 25th. He added, “We’re also close to finalizing export deals in Dubai and Bahrain.”

Founded in April 2016, OCTATCO is one of Korea’s leading FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) solution providers. FIDO is a global standard that enables secure and convenient online logins without passwords, using biometric authentication (like fingerprints or iris scans) or hardware security keys. The name OCTATCO combines OCTA (Latin for 8) and CO (short for cooperation), symbolizing open collaboration in the digital world, where bytes, made up of 8 bits, are the foundation of all data.

On June 17, OCTATCO co-hosted its first local conference and exhibition in Jakarta, titled “Cybersecurity at Both Ends: Strategic Zero Trust and Operational Defense.”

CEO Lee delivered a session presentation titled “The Key to a Safer Future: Passwordless, Phishing-resistant MFA, and Zero Trust,” introducing OCTATCO’s FIDO2-based Zero Trust authentication platform and fingerprint security keys, which received a strong and positive response.

This was the first time OCTATCO planned and hosted such an event locally, in collaboration with its Indonesian distributor PT PLANA Networks Indonesia (PAN), led by CEO Yoon Jae-Woong, a Korean national who attended high school and university in Indonesia. Given the enthusiastic feedback, a second event is already being planned for next year.

At the session, OCTATCO showcased its core technologies, including FIDO2-based biometric authentication, phishing-resistant login methods, and Zero Trust access control model.

In particular, their Multi-Attribute Authentication (M2A), which simultaneously verifies user, device, and location using fingerprint data, stood out. The system design, which stores biometric data only within the device’s secure enclave (not on a server), also drew praise for its strong security and privacy protections.

“We started planning the event last year,” said Lee. “I gave the full presentation in English without an interpreter.” Thanks to his international background, Lee was able to present fluently. The event attracted around 100 organizations, 50 from Indonesia’s financial sector and 50 from the public sector. “It’s quite rare for a private company to host an event like this on its own,” he said. Other Korean cybersecurity companies like MarkAny and EveryZone also took part.

Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country with vast territory and abundant natural resources, is becoming increasingly important. In recent years, it has become the world’s largest producer of both nickel and palm oil, and ranks second in rubber production after Thailand. “Greater Jakarta alone has a population of around 30 million,” Lee noted. “It’s a very attractive city for business.”

The keynote speech was delivered by Alfred Saut, Director of Indonesia’s National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), who is also known as a former student of MarkAny founder Choi Jong-Wook. In his talk, titled “Building Digital Trust through Zero Trust Architecture,” Saut emphasized the rapidly growing policy and industry interest in Zero Trust frameworks across Indonesia.

“Indonesia is clearly moving toward a Zero Trust model,” Lee said. “What struck me was that while Korea tends to give Zero Trust a uniquely Korean twist, Indonesia is adopting the global model as-is.”

He added, “The response was extremely positive. Thanks to this event, we’ve begun discussions with several large companies on new contracts.”

Following the success of this event, OCTATCO is ramping up its export strategy, expecting visible results this year in Indonesia and the Middle East. The company also plans to establish a local office in Singapore by year’s end. It is currently running a project in Vietnam and is in talks to appoint a distributor in Thailand.

“Our goal is to become the No.1 identity solution provider in Southeast Asia,” Lee said. “Next year, we’re targeting $2 to $5 million in revenue across the Asian market.”

He added, “The global identity market is projected to reach 15 trillion KRW (approx. $11 billion) by 2032. Our mid-to-long-term goal is to secure around 10% of that.” OCTATCO is targeting large-scale clients with over KRW 100 billion in revenue and more than 1,000 employees. “There are about 6,000 such companies across ASEAN,” he added.

[By Bang Eun-joo ejbang@zdnet.co.kr]

[Read the original Korean article here]