In his current role with Morgan Stanley, Prashanth Challa is focused on protecting financial clients and their clients from advanced persistent threat-style attacks. As he says about his job, “there is no off-switch in my position.” Those with bad intentions are constantly on the prowl each day looking for vulnerabilities to gain access to millions of individuals’ private information.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2017, Challa was Head of Cybersecurity at a startup focused on big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence. He also created analytics for threat detection and advised clients on how to best deal with their cybersecurity issues. Challa began his career at the National Security Agency (NSA), where he conducted and led a team performing computer network operations, developed exploits and implants and researched vulnerabilities through reverse engineering. While specializing in the exploitation of cryptographic devices, he delivered new and unique tools to enable foreign intelligence collection from the highest value targets. He holds a Master’s degree in Theoretical Mathematics as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University.

Cybersecurity, Databases & Infrastructure, Data Analytics, Technology, Internet Safety, Risk Management, Resilience Business Leadership,