Atul Kumar is CIO at Syndicate Bank. In the current role he manages IT, Digital, Cards, BPR, Data and Analytics for the entire bank. He is responsible for entire IT infrastructure of the bank including delivery channels like ATM, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking and Micro ATMs under Comprehensive Financial Inclusion Programme. He also introduced a robust Risk Management Framework for all IT processes.

A robust security posture amidst increase of multi-vector breaches is increasingly a ‘must-have’ for the banking CIOs. Syndicate Bank implemented Network Access Control (NAC) solution that created an inventory of all devices connecting to the bank’s network and categorizing them based on attributes and implements policies. The NAC Appliance performs agent-based scans by enforcing security policy compliance on all the devices seeking access to the bank network thereby control the damage from emerging security threats such as virus, worms, spyware etcetera. NAC solution identifies whether the networked devices such as PC’s/ATM’s/IP phones and other IP enabled devices are compliant as per the bank’s security policies. If the device is found to be non-compliant, the NAC Appliance redirects the machine to perform the necessary downloads and provides notifications to update the machine with latest antivirus and Operating System patches. The NAC solution has drastically improved the bank’s network security with a greater control over which devices accessing the network and the access they have been granted to. The solution also provides automated reporting of authorized devices connected to its network which can be used for analysis and for compliance. NAC also supports scalability to support a number of network devices connecting to the Syndicate bank’s network.