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Information Technology - Cyber Security
(Gold Winner)

PO#

#TBA03624

Payment Status

Paid

PO Created Date

2024-11-04 15:18:53

Paid Date

2024-11-04 15:19:10

Competition

2024

Season

Entry ID

TBE103999

Entry Submission Date

2024-11-04 15:14:10

Member's Name

Aparna Achanta

Member's Email

aachanta3@gmail.com

Entry Level

Information Technology

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IT24023 - Cyber Security

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Project Description

Project Description for Judges

Question 1 : Provide a brief description / background of your nominated organizational, departmental, team, or individual circumstance. (Your response to this question will be used for public display if your entry is awarded.)

As a Principal Security Architect, Aparna works as a consultant who oversaw mission-critical projects for US Federal Agencies, including the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Aparna specializes in securing and defending important federal applications and sensitive data for organizations such as the VA and FDA. During her tenure, she successfully implemented the Zero Trust framework in federal agencies, which included establishing secure development practices, evaluating vendors, scanning and mitigating vulnerabilities, establishing observability, performing performance monitoring, and making sure that SaaS applications have strong security frameworks and controls in place. Aparna worked closely with development teams to prepare all the security documentation required for critical healthcare applications to go live at FDA and VA and worked with ISO and ISSO in federal agencies to monitor Authority to Operate (ATO) statuses for critical healthcare applications to go live. Aparna is also an important part of IBM’s GenAI CoE, which establishes rules for Microsoft CoPilot and WatsonX governance.
With 10+ years of experience, Aparna has designed digital transformation projects for large federal clients that have greatly increased output and expedited procedures. Aparna is a motivated person who is committed to making an impact in the cybersecurity industry. She is an active mentor, author, peer-reviewer and speaker.

Question 2 : Outline your nominated organizational, departmental, team, or individual achievements, dated 1-3 years prior, based on your selected categories.

1) Aparna led teams as the Security lead for SaaS applications like Microsoft D365, Power Platform, and Microsoft Co-Pilot at federal agencies like VA and FDA responsible for governing security and compliance of vital healthcare applications. Aparna setup robust security controls that defended healthcare applications against threats and vulnerabilities. Aparna created data loss prevention policies and guidelines for system architecture, security roles, connectors, and system integrations. She conducted thorough vulnerability scanning, identifying and mitigating code vulnerabilities in healthcare apps based on OWASP and CVE standards. Aparna setup automation testing pipelines to find issues early in the development cycle and implemented observability and performance monitoring using Dynatrace, Azure App Insights, and Azure AI.
2) Aparna is passionate about mentoring and community engagement; she is proud to mentor at Women in Cybersecurity, ADPList, and All Tech is Human. Additionally, she is a founding member of the WomenTech Network. 
Aparna is an author and peer-reviewer of articles related to Zero Trust, Governance, Security, and Privacy at IEEE, ISACA, and Cloud Security Alliance working groups.
Aparna is a member of the Forbes Tech Council and reviews technical content on Forbes.

Question 3 : Provide examples of the strategies / plans you have introduced, in order to attain your nominated organizational, departmental, team, or individual achievements. Explain why the highlighted achievements are significant / unique.

Aparna spearheaded the Center of Excellence for SaaS applications at federal agencies like VA, which is tasked with implementing the Zero Trust framework and robust security policies, thereby enhancing the security posture of these agencies. Aparna implemented a security frameworks that is based on Security by Design and Zero Trust and enforced secure application development processes in each stage of software development. Aparna also with the Information security officers at federal agencies to ensure applications have the right security documentation to go live in Production environments. This Center of Excellence equips numerous citizen developer healthcare professionals, such as pharmacists and physicians, with the necessary tools and security and governance frameworks to develop applications using Low Code No Code platforms, such as Power BI and Microsoft Co-Pilot, and establishes guidelines to ensure the responsible and secure implementation of GenAI Apps like Microsoft Co-pilot. Aparna also established an Architecture Review Board for D365 and Power Platform applications, defining security requirements and shaping application architecture best practices for development teams.

Optional Context for Judges (Not for publication. This section is solely for judges' evaluation.)

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https://cybersecurity-excellence-awards.com/candidates/aparna-achanta-2025/	No	Display
https://www.womentech.net/nominee/all/all/121107	No	Hide
https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Aparna-Achanta-Principal-Security-Consultant-IBM/3d4d2633-5844-4982-90a3-918b86499b36	No	Display

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