OYO appoints ex-PayU exec Prakash Padariya as Chief Information Security Officer

Hospitality firm OYO on Thursday announced the appointment of Prakash Padariya as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for its IT and security teams. Padariya will report to Ankit Mathuria, the company's Chief Technology Officer (CTO). 

Before OYO, Padriya was associated with Netherlands headquartered online payment solutions provider PayU, where he was in a similar role. 

Under this role, Padariya will helm a security strategy for OYO's systems globally, including regions such as India, SEA, Europe, the USA and the UK, OYO said in a statement.

It added that he will be also responsible for leveraging technologies such as big data analytics and artificial intelligence to enhance cyber security functions from the ground. 

Moreover, OYO conveyed that Padariya brings with him over 19 years of experience across geographies with extensive expertise in corporate security consulting, cyber security, cyber warfare, vulnerability assessment, ethical hacking, surveillance audits, legal regulatory compliance, computer forensics, law enforcement cybercrime prevention, among others.

Apart from PayU, Padariya has worked in senior management roles across leading Fortune 100 MNCs like GE, Royal Bank of Scotland, IBM, Target Corporation and Accenture. 

"I am super excited to join OYO at this stage where all of travel is transforming and resurging post COVID-19. I am honoured to be a part of this team and can't wait to start developing solutions to enhance the maturity of all of OYO's products to the next level of security and privacy," noted Prakash Padariya.

Commenting on Prakash's appointment, Ankit Mathuria, Chief Technology Officer, OYO said, "OYO's data privacy and security are at the core of how we build technology. And for this reason, we believe in working with industry experts who can best lead the company's cyber security functions with the help of artificial intelligence and big data analytics. I welcome Prakash to the OYO team and look forward to collaborating with him to strengthen OYO's cybersecurity strategy, and architecture. 

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