Siri chandana Mergu

Cloud Security Engineer with 3+ years of experience securing Azure-based financial workloads through identity governance, network security, vulnerability management, and continuous compliance. Implemented RBAC, PIM, WAF, encryption, and policy-driven controls to reduce access risk, remediate high-severity findings within SLA, and achieve audit-ready cloud environments. Proficient in Microsoft Sentinel, KQL, Qualys, and Defender for Cloud for threat detection, incident response, and posture optimization.

Strong track record of improving compliance scores, strengthening data protection, and enforcing zero-trust access across production subscriptions.

Cloud Security Engineer - AIG, USA - USA

(2025-06)

• Engineered AWS-native security architecture using IAM, SCPs, Security Hub, GuardDuty, and Config to enforce least-privilege access and continuous compliance, reducing high-risk misconfigurations by 38% across multi-account environments.
• Automated cloud security controls with Python and Terraform in CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, Git), enabling policy-as-code, container image scanning, and secrets detection, which cut manual review effort by 45% and accelerated secure releases by 30%.
• Hardened Docker workloads through runtime threat detection, image vulnerability remediation, and ECR scanning integrated with IDS alerts, lowering critical container CVEs by 50% within two quarters.
• Implemented real-time threat monitoring on Linux-based EC2 using CloudWatch, VPC Flow Logs, and host-based IDS, improving mean time to detect (MTTD) by 35% and strengthening incident response SLAs.
• Orchestrated centralized log ingestion into SIEM using AWS services and SQL-driven correlation rules, increasing actionable security alert accuracy by 40% and supporting audit readiness for financial regulatory controls.
• Remediated cloud vulnerabilities through risk-prioritized patching, secure MySQL configuration, and automated compliance checks aligned with CIS benchmarks, achieving 99% adherence in quarterly security assessments.

Associate Cloud Security Engineer - Boost FinCrop Group, India - India

(2021-07 - 2023-07)

• Deployed Azure Security Center and Azure Policy to baseline secure configurations for IaaS and PaaS workloads, eliminating 32% of subscription-level compliance gaps and aligning controls with ISO 27001 requirements for financial systems.
• Configured Web Application Firewall (WAF) and NSGs to protect internet-facing lending and payment portals, blocking 95%+ of OWASP Top 10 attack patterns and reducing unauthorized access incidents by 28%.
• Administered RBAC and Conditional Access with Azure AD, enforcing MFA and privileged identity management (PIM), which decreased excessive access exposure by 41% across critical resource groups.
• Integrated vulnerability assessments using Qualys and Defender for Cloud, driving risk-based remediation that resolved 1,200+ medium and high findings within defined SLA timelines.
• Monitored cloud activity through Log Analytics and Microsoft Sentinel, creating KQL-based detection rules that improved threat visibility and shortened mean time to respond (MTTR) by 33%.
• Secured data services by implementing encryption at rest and in transit for Azure SQL and storage accounts, ensuring 100% coverage for sensitive financial and customer datasets.
• Conducted cloud security posture reviews and automated evidence collection for internal and external audits, increasing control validation efficiency by 45% and supporting regulatory reporting.

Master - Computer Science - Lawrence Technological University (2023-08 - 2025-12)