Rajesh Mittal

With over 20 years of experience in Application Security, Identity Management and IT infrastructure related projects, Rajesh has a developed a solid understanding of all aspects of IT security field and has assisted clients, of all sizes, in almost all segments of their Identity and Access Management journey. His core competency and passion lies in integrating heterogeneous products, fostering innovation to develop new Solutions and solving customer problems quickly and effectively. He is VP of Technology and Co-Founder of Avancer Corporation and leads Technical Strategic Planning, New Business Development, Marketing and Business Expansion. Prior to starting Avancer Corporation, Rajesh’s entrepreneurial venture, he has worked with PWC Consulting/Entology/HSBC/ LG Electronics in various capacities developing IT security solutions spanning multiple geographies. Rajesh holds a BE in Electronics Engineering from University of Pune, and MBA in Finance and Leadership from Stern School of Business, New York University.

shutterstock_304556531

How is Financial Industry battling Cyber-Security?

With a spike in cyber-attacks, financial services firms are leveraging innovative tools for combating this threat. Companies are now looking at improving security programs, using technologies such as Identity and Access Management (IAM), cloud-based cyber-security, Biometrics, Big Data Analytics, Privilege Account Management (PAM), together with advanced authentication. According to a survey, ‘Systemic Risk Barometer’, conducted by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation – DTCC – cyber-security has been regarded as one of the top concerns for most of the financial institutions. As per the study, heightened concerns over cyber-attacks have led many market participants (reflected through responses of 73% of survey respondents) to increase their investment in technology to detect and prevent cyber threats. Security incidents have been on the ... Read More
05/30/2016Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_275332031

Prevent Insider Access Goof-Ups in Healthcare!

Corporate insiders could be initiators of security breaches – dormant or active! Knowingly or unknowingly they might push out information that is meant to be kept locked-up and protected inside IT systems.This is not to suggest that you must not trust your people. However it is important to set the checks in place. Many healthcare organizations are still not waking up to the reality. They are yet to understand the impact of such a fraud being conducted by trusted insiders, which can dent the reputation of the business. While some healthcare facilities may have assessed the situation entailing data vulnerabilities and take proactive initiative to remove employees from the network after they exit, doing this might not be enough. Insider fraud ... Read More
05/13/2016Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_191917688

Classic IAM Implementation Mistakes in Healthcare

… and how to fix them. If you belong to healthcare IT Security, I urge you to do this. Open a search engine and type recent breach in healthcare information security. Go ahead and move to news tab of your search engine. Alarmed! Right? Interestingly cyber-crime including the ones reported recently in Washington, DC based MedStar Health system and the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles were not unusual. By taking note of important aspects of IAM, healthcare providers can avoid costly IAM mistakes!Being in the IT industry, we cannot hope that the attacks will stop and they won’t stop. However, given the pattern adopted by criminals’ point at lack of checks and laziness in blocking or addressing the loopholes in the IT ... Read More
04/25/2016Rajesh Mittal
Swap-Fingerprints-with-passwords

Are We Ready to Swap Fingerprints with Passwords?

Is it time to bid adieu to passwords and say hola to fingerprints? Are we finally moving towards a virtual world where the human body could be the key for accessing physical or virtual systems? Will biometrics sound the death knell on passwords or are we speculating a plot of a sci-fi movie? Is possession-based authentication (OTP, App based configuration to validate access) is a better way to look at MFA? We may safely assume that password security has failed over a period of time. With uncountable number of passwords being required in different applications and getting compromised in the past few years, the security concern hovering around us has become a big predicament. And so, fingerprints are here to disrupt ... Read More
04/04/2016Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_80320441

No end to IAM technology integration – it is a Journey

Great experience is a journey, not a destination. Here is a question – If Identity and Access Management (IAM) technology Integration is a Journey, how far have you reached? The same applies to availing benefits from the IAM technology. IAM tech integration is a journey. You cannot stop at one point hoping you have it all in place. There are newer capabilities that might catch your attention and fit as per your business needs. Here is a run-down on what set of capabilities you need to tread towards an agile, robust IT security ecosystem. Above the vanilla model of IAM that talks about – provisioning, de-provisioning, access management, federation, password management, Single Sign On, there are additional capabilities than help in ... Read More
03/22/2016Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_128774456

Why be worried about medical identity theft?

As per data released by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), during 2015 (as of December 1, 2015), out of the total data breaches reported, around 35 per cent were from the medical/healthcare industry. Although, the total breaches stood at 717, and medical/healthcare industry saw breaches of 248 during the year, what is worrying is that from the total number of records compromised, almost 68 per cent records were medical data. A whooping 120,077,576 medical records were compromised out of the total 176,275,271 data during the period. Obamacare has encouraged health data, relying heavily on patient information, passed on through electronic medium. It has, subsequently, opened a channel for cyber criminals to steal unprotected sensitive data from various health / medical ... Read More
02/05/2016Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_137061026

Should you Password Vault?

When we preach that your Passwords better be complex, what to take-away when it comes to vaulting them? Passwords, aren’t they complex, a hassle to manage and on top of it they are too difficult to remember? The world is online and the number of online properties per user is going up exponentially. Data is being stored, processed and accessed on a variety of devices like phones, laptops, tablets, devices attached via IoT and PDA’s. The only thing which saves our data and info from a hacker or thief is the password shielding our data. That is from an individual standpoint, when we look at this from the standpoint of business – users are not just individuals connected via devices, ... Read More
01/15/2016Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_311633507

IAM Tech Trends to watch out for in 2016

As an important emerging Tech Trend for 2016, new age cloud-enabled technologies will continue to push the envelope, while traditional solutions may keep their footing in the fast converting market place. Internet-of-things (IoT) devices, mobile apps and complex networks will keep the tech security space evolving – with SSO expanding its domain to IoT devices, Identity and Access Management (IAM) modules for apps and more layers of IAM and Privilege Account Management (PAM) for extra level of security. Also, keeping an eye on the latest Government policies on cyber security will be the need of the hour. Identity and Access Management (IAM) Technology Trends to watch out for in 2016 - in a nutshell it is about more of ... Read More
12/18/2015Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_149032733

Bringing App Intelligent Through Enterprise App Warehouse

As the need & acceptance for 24×7 connectivity grows in both the personal & professional lives of the burgeoning corporate professionals all over the globe – a large number of organizations are now in need of enterprise-wide mobility. Such a business model requires intelligent application stores with a strong suite of functionalities. What can be more befitting than a Mobile Platform for such technological dynamism? This can be achieved through provisioning of applications for a particular user through Identity Management platform. However, for multiple related re to security, control, & performance, Enterprise Architects must have an Enterprise App Warehouse available to users based on their roles and responsibilities. An Enterprise App Warehouse empowers businesses to white-list / black-list applications and exercise ... Read More
10/20/2015Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_143435386

Why Adopt PAM to Secure Big Data

As cyber thefts focus more on is looking at cracking through super users and regulatory requirements revolve around big data, ignoring either big data or super users can prove disastrous. Finding creative, innovative ways of breaking into data treasures, and hacking is today’s reality. Privileged account management has been critical to data security, and this IT security feature has been at the center of attention. The latest data breaches have been cases where attackers compromised a privileged user’s credentials to gain unobstructed authorized access to data. Often data gathering is becoming a business domain in itself, however Bulk data gathering is still done with no regard and attention to data security. Data-collection practices of companies and governments for legit reasons (such ... Read More
09/14/2015Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_309313568

What Does IAM Technology Automate?

Despite being pegged as an intuitive and intelligent system, Identity and Access Management (IAM) implementation remains a struggle for many. IAM assist the in the creation of a secure IT System with an improved ability to automatically detect threats and cyber risks. Organizations can achieve maximum information security. Improved security and surveillance into user access privileges. Reduced security costs through task automation, audit and reporting capabilities, tighter security controls, eliminated or reduced duplicate user IDs. Business-centric benefits are overlooked and a hush-hush tendency prevails. What is known less is that the resourcefulness it brings to business establishments, be it small business setups of big corporate houses, is IAM’s automation benefits. Automation brought about through IAM solution can create an edge when ... Read More
08/26/2015Rajesh Mittal
shutterstock_295829549

Rundown on IAM Architecture Best Practice

Many organizations look at limited functionality when implementing IAM solutions and they do not understand the implications of such a lackadaisical approach on their infrastructure and architecture. The benefits of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) are acclaimed to bring down integration costs, enable greater asset reuse, and arm IT to respond more quickly to changing business and regulatory requirements. A more robust system means a complex set of technology has been placed into it. When IAM Architecture has to be formulated, it just does not focus on creating simple IT systems. Such architects discover and implement concepts and best practices to build highly scalable IAM applications. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Security is crucial in strategically aligning security and compliance with the requirements of business.What brings ... Read More
07/10/2015Rajesh Mittal