Downtime

Japjit Sandhu,Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), YES Bank

Title: Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

Company: YES Bank

Industry Vertical: Banking.

Age: 34 years.

First Job: It was in defence. At the age of 24, I joined information warfare at the integrated defence headquarters.

What Made You Join Defense? My DNA! I was a third generation fauji in the family. I am an idealist.

Total Experience: 10 years.

Biggest influence on your career: Philosophy of the armed forces.

Security solution important for that industry: The approach needs to be an n-tiered architecture protecting the organization's critical information infrastructure at every level, from the core servers to the endpoints across multiple channels.

The person who influenced you the most: No one specific. Pick the best from all. The world is full of positive souls; I always keep learning something from them. Never stop!.

Biggest challenge in your industry: Lack of regulatory frameworks and understanding of information security risks.

How did you go about tackling this challenge: The way is to create higher benchmarks for the organisation and for yourself. Align with global standards and best practices.

Technology that best suits your industry: Identity and Access Management is a critical piece of technology that ensures information access on a 'need to know basis.'

Upcoming technology decision for your company: Security Incident and Event Management.

Your success mantra: Life is a highway and I want to ride it.

Technology you cannot live without: The Internet.

What do you enjoy doing the most: Riding cross-country on my bike!

Your most memorable moment: The birth of my daughter.

Favorite movie: I am more of a sitcom freak. I love the BBC series Allo Allo.

Favorite book: Winning by Jack Welch.

Your obsession: Perfection.

Biggest achievement so far: Setting up an integrated managed risk service at my present organization.

One thing that you want to change about yourself: Build a little more patience.

One thing you would never want to change about yourself: The values imbibed in me by my parents.

Best advice ever received and from whom: 'Leave procrastination for another day' by my mentor Sunil Dhaka, Head - Group Information Security at ICICI.

A piece of advice to fellow CISOs: Keep abreast with the ever-evolving threat landscape.

Any wish to be fulfilled: Lots…I hope that wishing well never runs dry!

If not a CISO you would have been: A tea planter.

—Priyanka Akhouri