Aparna Achanta

Additional Info

Job title of nominated professional (or team name)Principal Security Architect
Company (where nominated professional or team is working)IBM
Websitehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/aparna-achanta-41741739/
Company size (employees)10,000 or more
CountryUnited States
Headquarters RegionNorth America

Overview

As a Principal Security Architect, Aparna oversaw mission-critical projects for US Federal Agencies, including the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Aparna specializes on securing important healthcare applications and sensitive data for organizations such as the VA and FDA. During her tenure, she successfully implemented the Zero Trust framework in federal agencies, which included establishing secure development practices, evaluating vendors, scanning and mitigating vulnerabilities, establishing observability, performing performance monitoring, and making sure that SaaS applications have strong security frameworks and controls in place. Aparna worked closely with development teams to prepare all the security documentation required for critical healthcare applications to go live at FDA and VA and worked with ISO and ISSO in federal agencies to monitor Authority to Operate (ATO) statuses for critical healthcare applications to go live. Aparna is also an important part of IBM’s GenAI CoE, which establishes rules for Microsoft CoPilot and WatsonX governance.
With 10+ years of experience, Aparna has designed digital transformation projects for large federal clients that have greatly increased output and expedited procedures. Aparna is a motivated person who is committed to making an impact in the cybersecurity industry. She is an active mentor, author, peer-reviewer and speaker.

Accomplishments

1) Aparna led teams as the Security lead for SaaS applications like Microsoft D365, Power Platform, and Microsoft Co-Pilot at federal agencies like VA and FDA responsible for governing security and compliance of vital healthcare applications. Aparna setup robust security controls that defended healthcare applications against threats and vulnerabilities. Aparna created data loss prevention policies and guidelines for system architecture, security roles, connectors, and system integrations. She conducted thorough vulnerability scanning, identifying and mitigating code vulnerabilities in healthcare apps based on OWASP and CVE standards. Aparna setup automation testing pipelines to find issues early in the development cycle and implemented observability and performance monitoring using Dynatrace, Azure App Insights, and Azure AI.
2) Aparna spearheaded the Center of Excellence for SaaS applications at federal agencies like VA, which is tasked with implementing the Zero Trust framework and robust security policies, thereby enhancing the security posture of these agencies. This Center of Excellence equips numerous citizen developer healthcare professionals, such as pharmacists and physicians, with the necessary tools and security and governance frameworks to develop applications using Low Code No Code platforms, such as Power BI and Microsoft Co-Pilot, and establishes guidelines to ensure the responsible and secure implementation of GenAI Apps. Aparna also established an Architecture Review Board for D365 and Power Platform applications, defining security requirements and shaping application architecture best practices for development teams.
3) Aparna is passionate about mentoring and community engagement; she is proud to mentor at Women in Cybersecurity, ADPList, and All Tech is Human. Additionally, she is a founding member of the WomenTech Network. 
Aparna is an author and peer-reviewer of articles related to Zero Trust, Governance, Security, and Privacy at IEEE, ISACA, and Cloud Security Alliance working groups.
Aparna is a member of the Forbes Tech Council and reviews technical content on Forbes. 


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