Umasankar Kadirivelu Ganesh
Bangalore
Summary
Cyber Security leader with 19+ years of experience across Identity & Access Management, Privileged Access Management, Vulnerability Management, and Enterprise SOC operations. Proven ability to lead high-performing teams, engineer scalable IAM/PAM controls, and deliver security capabilities aligned with business and regulatory requirements. Experienced in designing identity governance processes, implementing privileged access controls, and driving automation to enhance control effectiveness. Adept at partnering with architecture, cloud, infrastructure, and GRC teams to strengthen enterprise security posture.
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
4
4
Certifications
4
4
Languages
Work History
SOC Head-(Security Engineer-II)
Amazon India Pvt. Ltd.
04.2022 - Current
- Since-Apr'22 with Amazon, Bengaluru as SOC Lead
- Lead the day-to-day operations for the Security Operations Center (SOC) and management of Tier 1 and Tier 2 analysts across global geographic locations, maintaining a four-shift staffing model to always ensure full coverage.
- Oversee the monitoring of security events and incidents to ensure timely detection, analysis, and response.
- Develop and maintain Incident Response plans including playbooks and escalation procedures and ensure seamless integration with Tier 1 & Tier 2 SOC analysts.
- Operationalized threat‑intel–driven detection engineering, converting TTPs, IOCs, and behavioral patterns into actionable SIEM/SOAR detections and automated playbooks.
- Built a structured Threat Intelligence → Detection → Response workflow, ensuring high‑fidelity escalations, faster triage, and improved incident readiness across global SOC teams.
- Coordinate and lead incident response efforts, including communication with stakeholders and post incident reviews.
- Evaluate and recommend new security technologies and solutions to improve the SOC's effectiveness.
- Develop and maintain key performance indicators (KPIs) and metric to measure the effectiveness of SOC operations.
- Provide periodic reports to senior management of SOC activities, incidents, and overall security posture.
- Lead tabletop exercises with senior management and executive leadership teams.
- Led the Vulnerability Management (VM) Research and Analysis function, defining strategy, operating models, and long-term program maturity goals.
- Oversear enterprise-wide vulnerability identification, prioritization, and risk assessment, ensuring consistent, risk-based remediation across diverse environments.
- Directed cross-functional teams in executing threat and vulnerability assessments, providing strategic guidance on mitigation and defense-in-depth practices.
- Established scalable VM governance processes, strengthening coverage, ticketing workflows, exception handling, and detection methodologies.
- Championed automation initiatives—including severity scoring, threat-intel monitoring, and asset-owner identification—reducing operational effort and accelerating response timelines.
- Served as senior SME for asset discovery, scanning, patch management, and remediation planning, guiding teams through complex technical and operational challenges.
- Built strong stakeholder relationships, communicating complex security concepts clearly and influencing decision-making across engineering and business teams.
- Drove continuous improvement by identifying systemic gaps, proposing high-ROI solutions, and leading end-to-end execution of ambiguous, high-impact initiatives.
Senior Manager - Information Security
ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
04.2018 - 04.2022
- Implemented IAM governance processes including access reviews, role lifecycle management, and least-privilege enforcement.
- Integrated IAM/PAM controls with cloud and on-prem platforms, ensuring secure authentication and authorization flows.
- Enhanced privileged access workflows using AD and OLA inbuild tool by colaborating security engineering team.
- Supported implementation of secrets management solutions for secure credential storage and rotation.
- Developed KPIs, KRIs, and dashboards to measure IAM/PAM control performance and risk posture.
- Provided L3 support for IAM/PAM-related incidents, including access misuse, privilege escalation, and authentication failures.
- Implemented zerotrust network across Ola and Ola Ectric network with the Help of Prisma Access,Prisma SAAS, AD,Cortex-XDR, Forcepoint DLP,AD, Firewalls etc.
- Established and managed SOC team and Enterprise security team from the scarch.
- Conducting risk assessments, vulnerability assessments and risk-based security reviews / audits periodically for applications, databases, operating systems and security devices and recommend mitigation through appropriate controls, both in projects and for existing assets
- Supervising a team of Networks & Security Engineers working in 24x7 environments for NOC & SOC related activities
- Following all the ITIL processes such as Change Management, Problem Management, Incident Management and Major Incident Management for proactive security operations and support
- Ensuring 24x7 shift coverage is always there including managing the global roster working with global peers
- Contributing in security live monitoring, events monitoring, logs analysis, RCA and reports generation using various tools
- Established the organization’s first Threat Intelligence function, integrating external threat feeds, malware indicators, and industry‑specific intelligence to strengthen SOC visibility.
- Implemented threat‑intel–driven alerting by mapping attacker TTPs to MITRE ATT&CK and tuning SIEM detections to identify privilege misuse, lateral movement, and cloud‑based threats.
- Conducted periodic threat landscape assessments for mobility, EV infrastructure, and fintech (Ola Money), providing leadership with actionable insights on emerging risks.
- Built processes for threat hunting, leveraging Cortex XDR, Prisma Access telemetry, and network logs to proactively identify anomalies and reduce dwell time.
- Identifying and evaluating potential threats and vulnerabilities reported by customers; making recommendations for mitigating identified risks; educating customers and partners on defence in depth to manage exposure to malicious attack
- Aligning Network architecture with IEC62443 standards for Ola Electric industry.
- Aligned SOC operations and IAM/PAM control frameworks with PCI DSS regulatory requirements, strengthening access governance, privileged access workflows, and audit readiness for Ola Money.
Senior Security Specialist
Optiv India Private Limited
03.2017 - 03.2018
- Defined the schedule of shifts for 24/5 support; controlled the L1 and L2 teams and coordinated in the workload for each shift by tracking daily activities
- Assessed and monitored the overall effectiveness of SOCs by working closely with senior managers; monitored the incidents tickets and ensured that team followed the incident process and suggested the improvements
- Identified, implemented and executed best practices in incident identification, assessment, reporting, communication, mitigation and monitoring
- Reviewed and approved operational requests like Service Accounts, Firewall Configuration Changes, Anti-Virus Scanning Exclusions, Whitelisting URLs and so on
- Managed periodic analysis of the warning investigated to improve maturity of the system; investigated, detected and escalated incidents
- Created the correlation alerts and eliminated false positives and minimized the analyst analysis time; identified the required log source and built the new plays by coordinating with the internal clients
Information Security Investigator
CISCO Systems
01.2016 - 03.2017
Senior Security Engineer
Merlin Technology Services India Pvt. Ltd.
06.2015 - 12.2015
Associate in Information Security
Convergys Corporation
02.2013 - 05.2013
Information Security Engineer
E2-Labs
06.2008 - 02.2008
Education
B.Tech. - Computer Science
Sree Venkateswara College of Engineering
01-2005
Diploma - Computer Science
Dr. Y C James Yen Rural Polytechnic
Kuppam01-2002
Skills
Security Incident Management
Security Operations
Process Excellence
Security Audits
Event Management
Identity Access Management
Performance Monitoring
Team Building & Leadership
Cross-functional Coordination
Communicator
Collaborator
Intuitive
Innovator
Leader
Problem-solver
Analytical
Team Builder
Zeroday Solutions: Prisma Access
SIEM Tool: RSA EnVision, Splunk, Sumologic
Malware Analysis: Symantec Endpoint Protection, FireEye, Cylance, CrowdStrike,Crtex-XDR
Threat Intel implimentation
Web Report Analysis: MacAfee Web Gateway, Zscalar
Email Gateway: Proofpoint
PCI Compliances: Configuresoft, SolidCore, Qualys Guard, EguardPost
Vulnerability Management Solution & Pen Testing: Qualys Guard, AppScan, Nessus, Metasploit
Data Loss Prevention: Digital Guardian, Symantec DLP, Forcepoint DLP,PRSMA SAAS
Packet Sniffers: TCP Dump, Ethereal
Certification
CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) – ISACA
Timeline
SOC Head-(Security Engineer-II)
Amazon India Pvt. Ltd.
04.2022 - Current
Senior Manager - Information Security
ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
04.2018 - 04.2022
Senior Security Specialist
Optiv India Private Limited
03.2017 - 03.2018
Information Security Investigator
CISCO Systems
01.2016 - 03.2017
Senior Security Engineer
Merlin Technology Services India Pvt. Ltd.
06.2015 - 12.2015
Associate in Information Security
Convergys Corporation
02.2013 - 05.2013
Information Security Engineer
E2-Labs
06.2008 - 02.2008
Diploma - Computer Science
Dr. Y C James Yen Rural Polytechnic
B.Tech. - Computer Science
Sree Venkateswara College of Engineering
Executive Profile
- Track record of consistently accepting challenging roles, understanding business requirements and exceeding expectations, by delivering best-in-class, cost effective, security solutions that mitigate business risks and by producing top quality deliverables on time and within budget
- Demonstrated excellence in Identity & Access Management (IAM) and Privileged Access Management (PAM) initiatives, including access governance, role lifecycle management, and implementation of least-privilege and Zero Trust principles.
- Proven excellence of working with global technology teams to provide strategic and analytical solutions to partners
- Played a key role in undertaking strategy planning and implementation which had an impact on technology direction for the division and business segment
- Expertise in directing a broad range of corporate IT initiatives and analysing information system needs, providing effective resolution to customer queries and evaluating end-user & senior
- Articulate leader with notable success in directing a broad range of corporate IT initiatives, while participating in yearly planning, analysis & implementation of solutions in support of business objective
- Experienced in effectively communicating technology risks to the business, by partnering with VPs, Directors, Senior Managers, Architects and at the strategic level
- Experience of Enterprise Security Operation Center (SOC), Security incident and Event Management (SIEM) and Information Security
- Excellence in identifying technology, product and services for security development under short and long-term strategy, modernization of the security basis latest technology
- Skilled in driving automation for IAM/PAM processes, improving control effectiveness, reducing operational overhead, and ensuring audit-ready artefacts and metrics (KPIs/KRIs).