Description

Strategic C-CISO and Board Advisor (21+ yrs) known for driving enterprise resilience across the GCC, Africa, & India. I specialize in AI Governance (ISACA AAISM Candidate), FAIR-CRQ, and Zero Audit GRC (PCI-DSS/ISO), translating complex risk into measurable business outcomes. Top InfoSec Leader 2024. 🚀

Languages

English
Native or bilingual
Hindi
Fluent
Malayalam
Native or bilingual

Workplace preferences

Can work on-site

Dubai (up to 50km)

Confidential Advisory
AI & GRC Strategy Consultant
June 2025 - Today (1 year)
United Arab Emirates
• Advise C-level executives on AI Governance (NIST AI RMF), LLM risk management, and enterprise cybersecurity architecture.
• Integrate next-gen network security (SD-WAN, SASE) and AI-enabled monitoring for improved risk posture.
• Conduct FAIR-based CRQ for emerging adversarial AI and enterprise threats to inform strategic investment.
• Support vendor selection, solution evaluation, and roadmap design for secure AI adoption and digital
transformation.
Cyber Risk Quantification (CRQ) PCI-DSS & ISO 27001 Compliance
Dubai Health Authority (DHA)
IT Security Head – Cybersecurity Innovation
October 2023 - April 2025 (1 year and 6 months)
United Arab Emirates
• Executive Reporting & Influence: Maintained a dual reporting structure as Advisor to the CIO with a dotted line to the CISO, positioning me to align security strategy with core business objectives and enterprise governance.
• Critical Governance & Approval: Served as a key approver on the Change Advisory Board (CAB), providing
final security authority for all changes to new solutions and critical business functionalities to ensure
security-by-design.
• Security Operations Leadership: Directed the SOC operations, acting as the critical approval point for all
block/modify actions on threats, ensuring 24/7 threat neutralization and achieving 99% monthly completion
of critical security service desk requests.
• Led enterprise security architecture and CoE innovation programs for multi-petabyte healthcare/genomics
data for 25K+ users.
• Implemented SOC enhancements, IR playbooks, automation, and threat intelligence dashboards (reduced IR
times by 40%).
• Oversaw procurement, RFPs, and vendor evaluations for SIEM/SOAR/DLP, achieving 15% cost savings and
30% improved threat detection.
• Compliance & Resilience: Consistently met or exceeded targeted security KPIs set by the board/strategy
functions two years in a row, including achieving a 70% rate of critical security patches across 500+ servers
and devices.
Executive Presence & Influence MSSP / SOC Leadership Security Architecture Design PCI-DSS & ISO 27001 Compliance Business Acumen
Freelance
Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure Consulting
September 2022 - September 2023 (1 year)
United Arab Emirates
• Led ISO 27001/NIST/SOC2 audits and readiness programs, implementing comprehensive security tools,
policies, and procedures across infrastructure and network controls.
• Provided advisory on hybrid network strategies, focusing on site-to-site VPNs, network virtualization
(VMware/HyperV), and high-end switching solutions to enhance resilience and scalability.
• Conducted security assessments and penetration testing for key infrastructure components, developing comprehensive risk communication documentation for C-suite review.