Akash Gaikwad

ROLE OVERVIEW: Spearhead SOC operations across BNY's global financial infrastructure. Drive alert tuning strategies, playbook optimization, and process improvements. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS: • Lead SOC initiatives, including alert tuning, playbook enhancement, and process improvements to reduce triage time and strengthen incident handling standards. • Perform end‑to‑end triage of security alerts across email, endpoint, network, and cloud using Splunk, Microsoft Defender/Sentinel, and CrowdStrike within a 24/7 SOC context. • Enrich detections by adding and managing IOCs (emails, domains, IPs, file hashes) in Microsoft Defender and suggesting tuning improvements for Sentinel analytics rules to improve detection accuracy and reduce false positives. • Handle phishing and smishing reports, from user reports, evidence collection, and containment. • Support Incident Response on confirmed incidents, performing deep‑dive investigations, documenting findings, and translating technical details for non‑technical stakeholders and management. Incident Response & Threat Detection: • Lead investigation and response to 50+ high/critical severity incidents. • Perform root cause analysis and implement remediation strategies. • Participate in proactive threat hunting. • Add and maintain malicious indicators (IOCs) in Microsoft Defender, CrowdStrike for real-time blocking. • Collaborate with Incident Response, Cyber Threat Intelligence, and vendor teams on threat containment. Team Leadership & Development: • Mentor and coach junior analysts on SIEM operations, incident investigation, and response procedures. • Conduct peer reviews of security incidents and alerts. • Create training materials and documentation for SOC team. • Drive process improvements across security operations. TOOLS & PLATFORMS: Microsoft Sentinel, KQL, Splunk, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, CrowdStrike Falcon, Proofpoint TAP, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, IBM QRadar, Azure, Entra ID

Key Achievements: QRadar Administration: Onboarded 15+ log sources; installed and managed SIEM applications (UEBA, Threat Intelligence, QDI, QRadar Pulse, Use Case Manager) Use Case Development: Built and fine-tuned 30+ custom detection rules; conducted quarterly rule audits, reducing false positives by 70% Alert Optimization: Implemented alert tuning playbooks for aviation, retail, and financial clients; decreased noise alerts by 65%, enabling faster MTTR Client Engagement: Led monthly security review meetings with C-level stakeholders; presented findings and recommendations to improve security posture Incident Response: Provided L2 IR support; analyzed and investigated confirmed incidents; created comprehensive incident documentation Platform Mastery: Configured user roles/permissions, managed patches, supported BigFix endpoint patching and compliance

Key Contributions: SIEM Operations: Performed daily QRadar monitoring; fine-tuned rules and use cases; conducted monthly rule audits to improve detection accuracy Incident Response: Analyzed and investigated confirmed security incidents; escalated high-priority threats; documented findings for SOC team Threat Analysis: Provided security advisory services; analyzed emerging threats and malware Team Development: Trained 10+ Security analysts on SIEM operations; created runbooks and process documentation Alert Tuning: Fine-tuned multiple use cases to increase true positive rate and reduce false positives; presented insights to management Documentation: Investigated, documented, and reported on information security issues and emerging threat trends

• Managed a High-volume workload within a deadline-driven environment. • Resolve inquires in any given week and consistently met performance benchmarks in all areas as positive response rate from customers. • Responding to particularly challenging emails regarding queries of product. • Maintaining day to day targets with positive feedback from customers. • Completed Customer service training to learn ways to enhance customer satisfaction and leveraging productivity.

“One of the main cyber-risks is to think they don’t exist. The other is to try to treat all potential risks. Fix the basics, protect first what matters for your business and be ready to react properly to pertinent threats. Think data, but also business services integrity, awareness, customer experience, compliance, and reputation.” ― Stephane Nappo Modules covered during this period: Security Fundamentals IT law and Ethics Network Security Penetration Testing Incident Response Secure Programming for Web Cryptography Computer Forensics Research in Computing Malware Analysis.

Modules covered during the period : Operating System Microprocessors Data Communication Relational Data Base System Advanced Database Data Analytics Ad-Hoc networks Internet of Things Programming languages(C , C#, Java) Computer Algorithms.