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Integrating Security for Business Growth

Oliver Valentino, Head of Cyber Security, Amar Bank

Oliver Valentino, Head of Cyber Security, Amar Bank

Oliver Valentino is a highly accomplished information security expert who is celebrated for his expertise in security assessment, architecture, operation, incident response, and consultation. His exceptional leadership and innovative solutions have garnered prestigious accolades, including the CSO30 ASEAN + Hong Kong Winner in 2022 and 2023 and the APAC CIO Top 10 Security Leader Award in 2023. Oliver's career trajectory is marked by significant contributions to the cybersecurity landscape. As the current Head of Cyber Security at Amar Bank Indonesia, he spearheads developing and implementing comprehensive security strategies, ensuring robust protection for the organization's critical assets.

Through this article, Oliver Valentino discusses the critical role of emerging cybersecurity technologies in enhancing business operations. He shares insights on integrating security within product development, making it a business enabler rather than a hindrance.

How do emerging developments in Cyber Security contribute to addressing challenges and improving the fulfillment of business requirements?

Currently, the speed of security solution development is quite fast. Security solutions can catch up to new technology and trends and can provide protection and secure various new services. For example, various CSPM tools can help protect our cloud platform and help us to have visibility of our security posture. Various business requests are fulfilled securely because security is enabling us to do so. Another example is that we can deliver more services to mobile app users, even critical services because more mobile security solutions are available in the market now.

Maybe around five years ago, banking activity like opening a bank account, you have to do it in person, physically in the bank itself. However, by utilizing various technologies and implementing various security controls, a lot of banks can give you services to open a bank account digitally, using only your phone. Thus, we can see that the development of security technology can also widen business possibilities.

Can you share your experiences from a successful cybersecurity initiative you led?

One of my main objectives in building a cyber security program is, becoming part of the business itself. Oftentimes, security is only a stopper at the end of the process, a necessary process to comply with regulatory requirements, and is not involved in a lot of the business aspects. We just came and did our stuff, and that’s it. Currently, my team is integrated into various internal product development processes. We not only come and join to do pen-testing but we are continuously involved in their product ideation, development and testing. We can have end-to-end visibility on what the business is doing and can plan accordingly. By doing this, we can become one of the business enablers. We can enable businesses to thrive securely, especially in highly regulated industries like the financial industry. So, we are not slowing them down by adding security to their plate; we make them faster by tackling security issues as early as possible.

Cybersecurity is a business enabler. By integrating security into product development, we ensure compliance and accelerate business growth by addressing security issues early in the process.

Can you share some key do's and don'ts for professionals in positions comparable to yours in other Cyber Security roles, based on your experience?

For me, there are three crucial understanding that you need to have or do: 1.Understand your business. Cybersecurity is a business enabler. You have to understand your business. This will also help you to plan and implement security controls that suit your needs.
2.Understand your peers. Again, we are an enabler. You can shove security standards down their throat, and maybe they’ll do it. But you have to watch their every step. Once there is a chance of not doing it, they will not do it.
Make sure they understand you. As I said, they might do it when you force them to, and you’ll have to watch their every step, but if you help them understand that ‘cyber security is everybody's objective. We are just the navigators helping them navigate safely.’ They will automatically think about security in everything they do.

Is there a particular technology trend in cybersecurity that you find especially exciting, and if so, what is it and why?

AI adoption. AI is being adopted massively in everything. Everything has AI in it now. It is a challenge now to think about data safety and privacy when trying to build your own model. Fraud and Attacks are becoming unique and harder to detect using AI technology. I'm excited to see how cybersecurity solution providers will utilize this technology to enhance more of the current solution offerings in the market.