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The fintech industry is one of the industries most often targeted by cybercriminals because of the profits they can gain from data breaches. Research estimates that the industry’s average cost of data breaches will reach $5.9 million in 2023, about a million dollars higher than the average cost of data breaches across all sectors. The high cost of cyberattacks in fintech has pushed the industry to find new solutions against this ongoing threat.
Data engineering is foundational in protecting consumer data against emerging cyber threats. It stores, manages, and organizes customer and employee data. If the fintech sector wants to survive attacks from cybercriminals, experts must improve how data is organized and analyzed in the industry. At the forefront of improvements in fintech security is Ravi Jagadish, an expert in data engineering and technology with over 19 years of experience. This article explores Ravi’s journey and how he is improving digital banking security to protect the fintech sector from cyberattacks.
Ravi Jagadish’s professional journey
Ravi’s professional journey in data engineering and cybersecurity started because of his curiosity and fascination with data systems. His 19 years of experience in data engineering and cybersecurity has led him to take up various roles in the fintech sector and Fortune 500 companies. It also placed him in roles where he had to tackle critical challenges in the industry, such as managing existing vulnerabilities and inefficiencies in data storage and ensuring that staff have access to the data they need to operate. In cybersecurity, he specializes in identity and access management (IAM). This framework involves policies, technologies, and processes that help authenticate and manage access to various organizational files and data. Ravi’s 19-year career has helped him recognize the possibilities of employing data engineering to improve cybersecurity, particularly when it comes to two cybersecurity principles: confidentiality and integrity.
How data engineering improves cybersecurity
The IAM framework helps improve the confidentiality of data in an organization. Confidentiality in cybersecurity is all about ensuring that people don’t have unauthorized access to sensitive data. The IAM framework improves confidentiality in an organization by offering different tools and processes that create, manage, and revoke access to data within an organization. By integrating data engineering practices with the IAM framework, analysts within the company can audit data access and enhance security by giving role-based access to employees. Analysts can also log and track users who might’ve accessed the files, making finding culprits within the organization easier. Integrating data engineering with the IAM framework improves confidentiality by giving analysts precise control over the monitoring of data, which enhances accountability and compliance within the company.
Another important principle in cybersecurity is integrity. Integrity ensures that data isn’t breached or accessed at rest or in transit. Data engineers managing an organization’s cloud migration improve data through encryption and proper management. First, they encrypt the data in transit to the cloud platform. The encryption makes it harder for unauthorized access to the data without the proper encryption keys. Then, with the help of data management tools, data engineers can check if the data is stored and processed correctly during the migration. They can potentially reduce downtime while also reducing the cost of data storage by properly managing the files during transfer.
Ravi Jagadish’s cybersecurity initiatives
Ravi’s expertise in data engineering improved the protection of fintech companies against cyber threats. His comprehensive IAM initiatives include implementing role-based permissions and using the principle of least privilege to ensure that no one in the organization can easily access confidential files. These initiatives ensure that employees can only access specific files they need to function, reducing access to confidential company data. Moreover, Ravi was also part of his company’s cloud migration efforts. He spearheaded the cloud migration of his company’s essential applications to the AWS cloud, which increased their security posture and improved their file storage’s overall efficiency. He also helped initiate a company’s migration to Snowflake, which reduced their annual expenses by $150,000. His credentials, which include his AWS Certified Solution Architect, have given him proper insight into the benefits of migrating to these cloud services. Furthermore, Ravi’s technical know-how on cloud migration also reduced downtime during the migration process while also protecting the company’s interests.
Ravi’s expertise in data engineering has left a substantial mark in the world of fintech cybersecurity today. Through the effective implementation of IAM policies and proper utilization of the cloud as another layer of defense for his company, Ravi increased his organization’s overall security posture and reduced additional costs from inefficient data storage. Ravi’s initiatives should be a foundation for every startup in the fintech sector to ensure they are protected from cyber threats while improving their efficiency in data management.
