White said Australia should ban its companies from paying ransoms in response to attacks, in a bid to stomp out the ransomware industry.
“I continue to advocate for people not paying ransoms,” he told investors.
“If Australia banned ransoms, admittedly there would be some immediate problems for the first few attacked, but the whole ransomware industry would look elsewhere and we would be left alone, we wouldn’t be a target any more.”
‘We understand what is going on’
Banning ransoms is a hot issue after well-publicised attacks at Latitude Financial Group, Medibank Private and Optus in the past 12 months.
It’s one of the things being considered by the government and its advisory panel on cybersecurity, as part of a review into how Australian companies should respond to cyberattacks, and is a keen talking point inside boardrooms.
White said WiseTech was in something of a lucky place – at least it could understand how hackers operated. But it was still vulnerable to an attack.
“The good thing about WiseTech is we actually understand what’s going on,” he said.
“We know what hackers do, how they do it, where they attack, the psychologies they use… and we are moving everything we possibly can to be double or triple protected.
“But there is no company anywhere in the world that is 100 per cent safe. It is impossible.”
For White, that means taking a keen interest in the group’s cybersecurity strategy, and advocating in the sector more broadly.
As a CEO, he’s made it a priority, which is probably a good indication of how other companies should also treat the risk.
“We owe it to our customers and shareholders to be extremely vigilant on cybersecurity,” he said.
“I sit at the top of the cybersecurity team, I have regular meetings with my senior management team in this space, I ask very penetrating questions, I have done quite a lot of research.”
Attack and defence
White’s address, delivered in a “fireside chat” format, was off the cuff and explained how the company had used M&A to significantly expand its footprint and create shareholder value.
He reminded investors that the stock listed at $3.35 a share in April 2016, and was trading near $67 on Wednesday morning.
For WiseTech, M&A has been a combination of attack and defence.
White said the busy acquirer – more than 40 deals in the past decade – was about extending and rounding out its core software offering, and had helped keep competitors at bay. He made it clear recent deals were about targeting adjacent services, including landside logistics and customs, and reminded investors that it is good at bedding down acquisitions.
‘Slower today, faster forever’
Investors see White as an interesting character. Some Sydney- and Melbourne-based fund managers struggled to keep up with his at-times scatterbrained explanations of the company and its markets, particularly in the first few years after listing, and cannot help but be sceptical of some of his broad comments.
On Wednesday morning, for example, when asked about WiseTech’s competitive edge over its peers, he quipped that WiseTech didn’t have any peers.
He stressed the importance of patience in business and the motto “slower today, faster forever” – but admitted he has pulled acquisitions together quickly.
He said WiseTech wasn’t replicable, but maybe he could do it if given $1 billion capital and a 10-year timeframe.
What’s not in dispute is his ability to make money. He was ranked No.14 on the AFR Rich List last year, with wealth worth $6.3 billion. The primary driver of that is his stake in WiseTech, still worth 39.7 per cent of the company.
And it’s that ability that has worn down the short sellers. Only 1.14 per cent of the stock was reported as sold short as of April 26, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission data.
‘Much better than Google’
Back to ChatGPT, and White said he used it for his own research. However, he is trying to find ways to use it at his company more broadly.
“ChatGPT is an extraordinary platform. We’re still in the very early days, and we’re very focused on it.
“I’m using it personally and I’m thinking about how we can apply it to various things.”
White said it was a much better research tool than Google’s search function, given the ability to ask specific questions and get specific answers.
However, he said it was unlikely to replace software developers.
“Where AI is going to benefit us is going to be an adjunct to work, to assist you with gathering and collecting,” he said.
“ I don’t think we should rush out and say we are going to use ChatGPT for everything. It’s just an adjunct.”
White said it was important that ChatGPT now had a private mode, which hides chat history, which meant coders were able to share code with the platform and not worry about it being picked up by another software developer.
If ChatGPT is an opportunity, White was very definitive when asked about the biggest potential threat to his business.