Dharnasi Subba Rao

· Oversee enterprise cybersecurity governance across 30+ security solutions, aligning security-service delivery and control priorities with business needs, regulatory expectations and digital-banking resilience.

· Oversee security solution implementation and operational management activities in coordination with relevant technical teams and technology partners.

· Support the alignment of cybersecurity initiatives with business requirements, information security policies, regulatory obligations, and the bank's technology risk management objectives.

· Drive continuous improvement in security processes, operational controls, and implementation practices to strengthen the bank's overall cybersecurity posture.

· Monitor implementation progress, pending activities, operational issues, and vendor commitments to facilitate timely resolution and minimize project delivery risks.

· Coordinate cybersecurity initiatives across network security, identity and access management, data security, security monitoring, incident management, and IT governance and compliance.

· Facilitate the planning, implementation, enhancement, and maintenance of enterprise security solutions in coordination with internal technology teams, security stakeholders, vendors, and OEMs.

· Support the integration of security controls into the bank's technology environment to strengthen access governance, threat detection, data protection, and infrastructure security.

· Monitor security implementation risks, compliance gaps, pending remediation activities, and vendor-related dependencies, facilitating timely escalation and corrective action.

· Facilitate security policy implementation, privileged access governance, security monitoring improvements, vulnerability remediation, and application protection initiatives.

· Coordinate technical issue resolution, configuration reviews, service improvement initiatives, and implementation dependencies across multiple security technology domains.

· Coordinate implementation activities, technical dependencies, change requirements, issue resolution, and service readiness to support the reliable delivery of cybersecurity initiatives.

· Coordinate cybersecurity governance activities to ensure alignment with applicable RBI guidelines, CERT-In directions and advisories, internal information security policies, and audit requirements.

· Coordinate with internal audit, information security, risk management, and other stakeholders to address audit observations and provide implementation-related compliance evidence.

· Support governance reviews, management reporting, and stakeholder communication concerning cybersecurity initiatives, service performance, implementation issues, and risk mitigation activities.

· Coordinate with security technology vendors and OEMs for implementation support, technical issue resolution, product maintenance, and service continuity.

· Manage or coordinate Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) and Annual Technical Support (ATS) renewals, service-level commitments, vendor deliverables, and related administrative activities.

· Monitor service-level performance, outstanding vendor deliverables, and implementation-related dependencies, escalating issues where necessary.

· Facilitate procurement-related activities, including technical requirement coordination, vendor discussions, proposal evaluation support, and implementation planning.

· Coordinate with internal procurement, finance, technology, and business stakeholders to support timely execution of security technology initiatives.

· Coordinate with internal procurement, finance, technology, and business stakeholders to support timely execution of security technology initiatives.

· Cyber Resilience & BCP/DR Program Management: Led and coordinated end-to-end Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Disaster Recovery (DR) initiatives for critical banking services, covering planning, readiness assessments, execution oversight, stakeholder coordination, RTO/RPO validation, and post-exercise remediation.

· Enterprise DR Governance & Regulatory Compliance: Managed disaster recovery and business continuity initiatives in alignment with RBI requirements, organizational resilience objectives, internal control frameworks, and applicable business continuity standards, strengthening operational resilience and regulatory preparedness.

· Enterprise DR Drill Coordination: Coordinated periodic and quarterly DR exercises across a reported portfolio of 28 critical and 235 non-critical banking applications, aligning application, infrastructure, network, security, vendor, and business stakeholders to validate recovery readiness and adherence to established RTO/RPO requirements.

· Large-Scale DR Infrastructure Transformation: Played a key role in the bank's amalgamation-related DR initiative, coordinating infrastructure expansion involving approximately 24 servers, 1 PB of additional storage, and migration of 15 banking applications, supporting increased capacity and disaster recovery readiness.

· DR Automation & Recovery Validation: Drove the adoption and operational use of Sanovi DR automation for drill management, replication monitoring, system-health validation, and recovery readiness checks, improving the structure and repeatability of DR exercises.

· Infrastructure Resilience & Synchronization Monitoring: Coordinated primary-to-DR replication monitoring, backup-status validation, infrastructure readiness assessments, and application recovery checks to identify synchronization issues and facilitate timely resolution of recovery dependencies.

· Technology Migration & Implementation Management: Coordinated complex infrastructure and application migration initiatives involving servers, storage, banking applications, and DR environments, facilitating implementation planning, technical validation, dependency management, and operational readiness.

· Cloud Strategy & Cost Optimization: Recommended private-cloud approach to enhance infrastructure scalability and resource utilization, achieving a proposed operational cost of approximately 10% of original hardware proposal.

· Project Governance & Cross-Functional Leadership: Coordinated application, infrastructure, network, security, vendor, and business teams to manage project dependencies, resolve technical issues, track milestones, and maintain progress across DR infrastructure and resilience initiatives.

· Technology Procurement & Vendor Management: Coordinated technical requirement documentation, vendor proposals and evaluations, infrastructure upgrades, lifecycle activities, Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMCs), Annual Technical Support (ATS), and service commitments, supporting controlled procurement and effective technology delivery.

· Service-Level & Operational Risk Management: Monitored DR infrastructure performance, vendor service commitments, implementation risks, and operational issues; facilitated corrective actions and management escalations to support service continuity and recovery preparedness.

· Standardized BCP/DR Framework Development: Developed and implemented repeatable four-phase DR drill framework—Planning, Preparation, Execution, Post-Drill Review/Reporting—strengthening governance and accountability, with continued team usage post-tenure.

· Incident & Crisis Coordination: Led incident communications and cross-functional coordination during major outages and recovery events, delivering actionable status updates, risk assessments, and escalations to management.

· Team Leadership & Capability Development: Mentored and coordinated a nine-member team, promoting disciplined execution, stakeholder accountability, operational preparedness, and continuous improvement in disaster recovery and business continuity management.

· Privileged Access Management (PAM): Implemented and managed PAM controls covering 500+ privileged accounts, strengthening privileged access governance, improving accountability for administrative access, and contributing to a reported 99% reduction in unauthorized-access incidents.

· Enterprise Vulnerability & Patch Management: Coordinated vulnerability assessments, security remediation, and patch governance across 2,000+ Windows, Linux, and AIX devices, achieving over 99% patch complianceand strengthening the security posture of enterprise IT infrastructure.

· Enterprise Security Technology Implementation: Supported the implementation and operationalization of enterprise security solutions, including SIEM, PAM, DLP, endpoint security, and deception technologies, strengthening centralized security monitoring, threat visibility, and incident response capabilities.

· SIEM Integration & Threat Detection Enhancement: Integrated deception-system telemetry with SIEM to support event correlation and real-time alerting for suspicious access attempts, improving visibility into potential threats and supporting proactive security monitoring.

· Threat Intelligence & Security Operations: Incorporated CERT-In threat intelligence and security advisories into security operations, coordinating relevant security reviews and remediation activities to address emerging threats and strengthen enterprise cyber resilience.

· Data Loss Prevention & Information Protection: Supported the implementation and enhancement of DLP controls across endpoint and email channels, strengthening information protection, improving visibility into potential data leakage, and reducing the risk of unauthorized data disclosure.

· Perimeter Security & Firewall Governance: Coordinated firewall-rule reviews, change documentation, and remediation of ineffective or unnecessary rules, strengthening perimeter security governance and supporting the enforcement of appropriate network access controls.

· Security Assessment & Remediation Management: Coordinated Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VA/PT), tracked identified vulnerabilities and security gaps, and facilitated timely remediation and closure of assessment findings to reduce technology risk.

· Security Incident Response & Stakeholder Coordination: Coordinated incident response and risk remediation with SOC/CSOC teams, IT operations, audit, CISO stakeholders, and external agencies, including CERT-In and IDRBT, enhancing compliance and security review processes.

· Secure Core Banking Transformation: Coordinated information-security requirements for the Finacle 7.25-to-Fin10 transformation, working with application, infrastructure, and security stakeholders to address security dependencies and supported controlled technology implementation.

· Enterprise Security Risk Management: Monitored security incidents, technical risks, vulnerabilities, remediation progress, and compliance gaps, coordinating corrective actions and escalation to relevant stakeholders to improve security-control effectiveness.

· Critical Banking Infrastructure Security & Availability: Oversaw 24×7×365 Data Centre operations supporting the Bank's Core Banking Solution (CBS), maintaining 99.9% uptime while safeguarding the availability, integrity, and operational resilience of mission-critical banking infrastructure.

· Identity & Access Security Enhancement: Implemented biometric authentication integrated with multi-factor authentication (MFA) for Core Banking access, achieving 99.9% secured login and strengthening identity verification and access protection for critical banking transactions.

· Disaster Recovery & Cyber Resilience: Strengthened production-to-DR replication monitoring, backup assurance, recovery validation, and scheduled disaster recovery exercises, supporting a defined two-hour CBS RTO and improving the recoverability of critical banking services.

· Database Security & Infrastructure Modernization: Contributed to Oracle CBS database upgrades from 10g to 11g and Finacle platform modernization from version 7.0.18 to 7.0.25 and subsequently from Finacle 7.25 to Fin10, supporting secure technology transitions and continuity of critical banking operations.

· Infrastructure vulnerability management: Conducted vulnerability assessments across servers, storage, and network devices, coordinating remediation to strengthen security posture of critical banking systems.

· Secure Configuration & Change Management: Supported secure system and application configurations, validated software updates, patches, and configuration changes in test/UAT environments before production deployment, helping reduce change-related security and operational risks.

· Security incident monitoring & response coordination: Monitored SIEM-generated security incidents, coordinated response and remediation with technology teams, and ensured timely resolution to enhance security incident governance.

· Database Replication & Data Protection: Implemented and maintained Oracle GoldenGate replication to strengthen database synchronization between production and DR environments, supporting data consistency and recovery readiness for critical banking applications.

· Infrastructure Capacity, Availability & Risk Management: Monitored database-server utilization, tablespace consumption, application-server performance, replication status, and critical infrastructure health, facilitating proactive intervention to mitigate capacity-related risks and prevent service degradation.

· Application Security Testing & Environment Segregation: Established the Core Banking UAT environment for the Bank's new mobile-banking application (MADP), enabling controlled application testing while maintaining separation from the production Core Banking environment.

· Secure Application Scalability & Load Distribution: Implemented and maintained three additional Finacle application servers to improve user-load distribution and application scalability, strengthening the availability and performance of critical banking services.

· Resilient Transaction-Processing Infrastructure: Supported ATM server migration from legacy HP infrastructure to HP NonStop servers and the implementation of supporting infrastructure, strengthening the technology foundation for critical customer transaction services.

· Secure Infrastructure Expansion & Modernization: Coordinated the addition of two full racks of cloud servers and storage, working with internal technology teams and vendors to support infrastructure expansion, implementation readiness, and operational continuity.

· Disaster recovery testing & business continuity assurance: Planned and coordinated Core Banking DR drills transitioning CBS operations to Bengaluru DR Site, validating recovery procedures and facilitating corrective actions per BCP requirements.

· International Banking Resilience: Participated in disaster recovery exercises for Hong Kong Branch operations, validating continuity arrangements and supporting recovery preparedness for geographically distributed banking services.

· Security Governance, Audit & Compliance: Coordinated with internal and external auditors to address Data Centre audit observations, support compliance reviews, and maintain alignment with the Bank's established technology control and operational governance framework.

· Cross-Functional Technology Risk Management: Coordinated with application owners, infrastructure teams, Facilities, business stakeholders, and third-party vendors to resolve critical technology issues, mitigate operational risks, and maintain continuity across Core Banking and associated banking platforms.

· Third-Party Technology & Implementation Coordination: Facilitated vendor-led infrastructure upgrades, application migrations, server deployments, DR initiatives, and security improvements, coordinating implementation dependencies and issue resolution to support delivery within operational requirements.

· Production Resilience & Critical Processing Assurance: Supported day-end/day-begin activities and periodic financial-processing cycles, including month-end, quarter-end, half-year-end, and year-end processing, helping maintain the availability and reliability of critical banking operations.

· Security-Conscious Infrastructure Operations: Integrated infrastructure monitoring, vulnerability remediation, security incident follow-up, controlled change implementation, backup assurance, and disaster recovery preparedness into Data Centre operations, establishing a strong foundation for enterprise cybersecurity and technology risk management.

· Cyber Resilience & Critical Banking Infrastructure Protection: Managed 24×7×365 DR-site readiness for Core Banking, ATM, Internet Banking, LAS, and other critical banking platforms, supporting the availability, integrity, and recoverability of mission-critical banking systems and data.

· Disaster Recovery Security & Business Continuity: Coordinated DR readiness, DC–DR replication monitoring, backup verification, recovery validation, and scheduled DR exercises, strengthening the bank's resilience against infrastructure failures and technology-related disruptions.

· Network Security & DR Infrastructure Protection: Implemented a Nokia firewall at the DR environment, introducing an additional network security layer to protect critical recovery infrastructure and strengthen the security of the disaster recovery environment.

· Secure Banking Technology Transformation: Contributed to the migration of Core Banking Solution data from SUN servers to IBM servers, supporting the secure transition of critical banking workloads within the documented implementation window. Received a Certificate of Appreciation and Gold Coin as part of the implementation team.

· Enterprise Banking Platform Deployment: Contributed to the bank-wide rollout of Core Banking Solution across all branches and extension counters, achieving 100% CBS rollout coverage and supporting the secure and resilient delivery of centralized banking services. Received a Certificate of Appreciation and Gold Coin as part of the implementation team.

· Disaster Recovery Security Architecture & Implementation: Implemented DR environments for Hong Kong Branch operations, Internet Banking, and LAS, extending recovery coverage across geographically distributed banking operations and customer-facing platforms.

· Regional Banking Cyber Resilience: Coordinated the rollout of the Regional Rural Bank (RRB) DR Site in Bengaluru, collaborating with internal teams across Bengaluru and Mumbai and technology partners including IBM, Wipro, and TATA to strengthen the recoverability of critical banking services.

· Infrastructure Security & Technology Modernization: Contributed to Core Banking infrastructure modernization, including Oracle CBS database migration from 9i to 10g, Finacle server upgrades from IBM pSeries 5/5.9 to IBM p6, and DS8000 storage expansion, supporting infrastructure reliability, scalability, and the continued availability of critical banking workloads.

· Secure Transaction-Channel Resilience: Supported ATM/Tandem server upgrades and associated DR infrastructure implementation, strengthening recovery preparedness for essential customer transaction services.

· Security Monitoring & Infrastructure Incident Management: Monitored the health and availability of servers, routers, switches, network equipment, and supporting infrastructure on a 24×7×365 basis, escalating incidents and coordinating corrective actions to maintain recovery readiness.

· High-Availability & Environmental Security Controls: Monitored critical infrastructure supporting redundant power, cooling, and connectivity arrangements, helping maintain the availability and operational readiness of the DR environment.

· Third-Party Technology Risk & Vendor Coordination: Coordinated DR implementation, infrastructure upgrades, and recovery-readiness activities across Data Centre, ATM, Internet Banking, Network & Security, and LAS teams, working with nine major technology and service providers: IBM, Wipro, HCL, HP, Reliance, BSNL, TATA, Bharti Airtel, and Infosys.

· Technology Risk Mitigation & Operational Resilience: Coordinated with infrastructure, application, network, and security teams to address technical dependencies, resolve infrastructure issues, and improve recovery preparedness for critical banking services.

· Foundation for Enterprise Cybersecurity Leadership: Developed practical expertise in infrastructure protection, network security, data recoverability, security control implementation, technology risk management, and operational resilience, establishing a technical foundation for subsequent responsibilities in IT Security, cybersecurity governance, and enterprise DR/BCP management.