Did you know that there were 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide in January 2021? That’s 60% of the world’s population. With the internet controlling our lives, the need for professionals to keep the sanctity of our data intact is only going to rise. Various analyses predict cybersecurity would grow into a $403 billion niche industry by 2027; its job market will expand 33% between 2020 and 2030, but it will continue to face an acute lack of professionals. One study pegged the number of unfulfilled expert positions to touch 3.5 million by 2025-end!
Not long ago, an average engineering student in India, studying at a non-IIT college, made up his mind to challenge the glorified path of becoming a software engineer after his engineering degree. He knew there was more to the industry. He would read articles about security breaches and hacking incidents worldwide and imagine himself as a superhero of sci-fi movies, preventing these attacks and saving the day for millions. His name is Pankaj Moolrajani.
Fast forward to 2022, Pankaj has been recognized internationally at the 18th Annual 2022 Cyber Security Global Excellence Awards for his contributions in the Cybersecurity domain. He received the Silver Globee Award for People Shaping Cybersecurity. This award was in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to his former employer Delta Dental. As the Cybersecurity Lead Architect at Dental, Pankaj created a next-gen cybersecurity platform to secure the vast network of APIs used by the insurance tech giant. With the help of this API security platform, Delta Dental was able to strengthen the security and privacy for its 85 million customers across the United States. Pankaj has also received the Gold Globee Award for Best Security Engineer.
Pankaj currently works at KeepTruckin. KeepTruckin is a logistics-tech start-up revolutionizing how commercial fleets are managed, and freight is moved. They use IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning to provide fleet owners real-time data about their fleets and drivers to ensure road safety and compliance. Being a growing tech start-up, they needed a cybersecurity expert to ensure their products were compliant with industry standards and were resilient against modern-day attacks. Enter Pankaj Moolrajani, who knew how to secure products at scale from his prior experience of working with Delta Dental and Meta (formerly Facebook). He was the founding member of KeepTruckin’s security team and is currently leading the development of a specialized cybersecurity organization. This new org manages the company’s core Cybersecurity functions such as Security Architecture, Security Operations, Security Threat Management, and Security Assurance.
As we applaud Pankaj for his contributions, we intend to encourage every student out there to aspire high and think of themselves as the superhero of a world where they want to make a difference! Because after all, Pankaj’s story is another testimony that it is possible.
For more such updates and perspectives around Digital Innovation, IoT, Data Infrastructure, AI & Cybersecurity, go to AI-Techpark.com.