Former Wipro CISO Sunil Varkey joins Symantec as CTO – Emerging Regions

Veteran cybersecurity leader Sunil Varkey has been appointed as the CTO and Security Strategist – Emerging Regions at Symantec.

A well-known face in the cybersecurity realm, Sunil Varkey, who was most recently VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Wipro, has joined enterprise security player Symantec as its new CTO and security strategist for emerging regions.

Prior to his 5-year long stint at Wipro, Varkey was the head of information security and privacy at Idea Cellular.

Following his appointment, Varkey shared in a LinkedIn post, that the environment in the enterprise is dynamically changing, and is not confined to just a few domains, but extends to business models, regulatory and compliance requirements, and end-user demands.

He added that with financially successful and highly motivated cyber-criminals, the situation we are in is not easy. “To achieve our objectives, it is critical to be vigilant and sensitive in understanding the impact of each of these indicators of change and its effect. Our traditional approach and strategy or the current posture may not be effective to defend and sustain this,” he said.

Additionally, he shared that a new perspective ought to be taken at the way risk management, incident response, and security controls are looked at.

A stellar record and a CSO100 Award to top

Sunil Varkey has over two decades of IT and information security leadership experience in various verticals such as banking, telecom, ITeS and manufacturing in the US, Middle East and India.

He won the CSO100 Award in 2017, during his security stewardship at Wipro. He is credited with building and managing the information security practice for GE Capital International Services. As the CISO of Idea Cellular, Varkey was entrusted with securing a 100 million customer base.

Apart from enterprise experience, he is also the commander and cybersecurity advisor to the Kerala Police.

In addition to contributing to numerous publications, he has 11 certifications and holds a patent on methods and systems for integrated risk management in enterprise environments. Two more of his patent applications are currently in consideration.