User details
Sanna Ahmed
@sanna_ahmed_y5olzdp7v
IT Security
East Tampa, FL, United States
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Member since: Jan 22, 2025COMPLIANCE GRC ANALYST | SECURITY SPECIALIST | SENIOR INFORMATION SECURITY AUDITOR | SENIOR IT COMPLIANCE | RISK ANALYST | COMPLIANCE RISK MANAGER
Highly accomplished Subject Matter Expert (SME) with 11 years of extensive experience in leading risk assessments, consulting, IT policy and procedure development, vulnerability management, remediation planning, executive reporting, and auditing across various compliance frameworks. Passionate about aligning security architecture plans and processes with security standards and business objectives through robust governance protocols. Proficient in implementing effective network defense strategies and addressing client-facing security challenges across global enterprises.
Engineered risk assessments and audit plans for 20+ Level 1 merchants to assess company cyber vulnerabilities, resulting in a 30% reduction in the risk of payment card data breaches. Directed successful risk assessments, leading a group of 11 cybersecurity consultants to ensure adherence to the standards and avoid fines.
• Evaluated Linux, Windows, Cisco, AWS, GCP, and Azure server configurations, and segmented the Cardholder Data Environment (CDE), reducing scope by nearly 70% and saving over $80,000 in risk assessment costs.
◦ Mentored technical Control Owners through maintenance, attestation, and testing of security controls, increasing control effectiveness by 30% and improving compliance across 50+ systems.
• Established project requirements and strategic methodologies for IT and business operations, providing executive leadership with risk assessment updates and driving compliance improvements that slashed downtime by 20%
• Mitigated security vulnerabilities, accelerated deployment timelines by 25%, and avoided $100,000 in potential fines by delivering a prioritized roadmap of controls and architectural recommendations, achieving 100% compliance with PCI DSS, NIST, ISO, HIPAA, HITRUST, and SOX standards.
• Analyzed Network Diagrams and Cardholder Data Flow Diagrams to map and track associated inventory, monitored and controlled significant changes, and reduced misconfigurations by 40%.
• Deployed security controls for 10+ high-risk applications, reducing security incidents by 15% and saving $50,000 annually in breach response costs.
• Interpreted IT data to assess and mitigate risks, reducing the likelihood of cyberattacks by 70% through vendor management, customer security questionnaire responses, and fortified personnel training programs.
• Managed and tracked remediation activities for security vulnerabilities, IT audits, and IT risks, resolving compliance gaps 20% faster and reducing regulatory exposure by $200,000 annually.
Collaborated with Enterprise Risk, Global Security Organization, Internal Audit, Compliance, and other key stakeholders to align controls and control activities with the organization's risk program and processes, reducing overall risk by 40% and saving approximately $1.2 million annually in potential losses. Conducted risk assessments to ensure compliance with security policies and proposed 15+ enhancements, reducing quarterly fines and penalties by nearly 45%, equating to an annual savings of $500,000.
• Directed client interviews and 30+ ad hoc counseling sessions weekly with stakeholders across 10+ countries to define and remediate deficiencies, achieving compliance for over 90% of audited systems within the first assessment cycle.
• Advised Control Owners to maintain the quality and accuracy of 200+ control activities in the company GRC tool, achieving a 95% accuracy rate, enhancing data integrity, and reducing compliance-related errors by 30%.
• Orchestrated the implementation of a centralized risk management framework, enabling efficient risk tracking and management across 25+ diverse projects, leading to a 30% reduction in project delays and generating $300,000 in cost savings.
• Guided 25+ internal stakeholders on the design and implementation of 70+ internal controls, ensuring ongoing risk mitigation and achieving compliance with PCI DSS, NIST, ISO, HIPAA, and SOX standards, avoiding fines of up to $1 million.
• Produced 50+ detailed executive reports, metrics, and dashboards related to compliance monitoring and improvement, which helped executive leadership make data-driven decisions, resulting in a 20% improvement in compliance tracking efficiency.
• Documented, prioritized, and mitigated risks for 30+ applications by maintaining a security risk register, reducing risk exposure by 50%, and saving $250,000 in remediation costs.
• Elevated compliance rates by 33% through targeted information security awareness campaigns, reaching 1,000+ employees across 15 departments and reducing incidents of non-compliance by 40%.
Aligned with cross-functional teams to evaluate critical systems and network infrastructure, implementing strengthened security measures that reduced costs associated with SOX, NIST, ISO, HIPAA, HITRUST, and PCI DSS risk assessments by 45%, resulting in $500,000 in yearly cost efficiencies.
• Analyzed vulnerabilities, security controls, and residual risk levels across systems, delivering actionable recommendations that decreased overall risk exposure by 60% and averted potential financial losses of up to $2 million.
• Redesigned processes and procedures to accelerate the identification of non-compliant systems, cutting remediation time by 75% and saving approximately 500 hours per month, equivalent to $150,000 in labor cost savings annually.
• Monitored security systems and conducted threat intelligence analysis, identifying and neutralizing 20+ potential threats, which mitigated risks and improved incident response time by 30%.
• Championed security awareness initiatives by delivering comprehensive training on HIPAA and PCI DSS compliance to over 500 employees across 15+ departments, resulting in a 40% increase in overall compliance adherence and a significant decrease in security incidents.
Averted security breaches by implementing organizational policies and ensuring system compliance with HIPAA, HITRUST, NIST, ISO, SOX, and PCI DSS regulations, supporting 25+ internal and third-party audits annually and narrowing compliance gaps by 40%
• Supervised monitoring of computer networks and operating systems (Linux, Windows, IOS, Android) for threats, mitigating 20+ potential breaches annually.
• Proposed and revised organizational policies to improve compliance, achieving a 70% increase in adherence to NIST, ISO, and PCI DSS standards, saving $150,000 in avoided audit fines.
• Optimized identifying system vulnerabilities on critical systems such as firewalls and Windows through internal and external vulnerability scans, reducing remediation time by 50% and preventing potential losses of up to $500,000.
• Enhanced information security awareness by partnering with the CyberSecurity and Technology Risk team, IT team, and 14+ departments, delivering training that increased compliance by 30%.