Having joined the Telkom IT team fresh out of university and wanting to practice software engineering, I was taken aback when the Head of Cybersecurity said “No, you’re coming to security.” So that’s what happened and I’ve spent my whole career in cybersecurity and I love it,” Varma says.
Varma has worked in government, telecommunications, banking and insurance. In joining Old Mutual five years ago, she headed risk management for the organisation, then went into an executive role and eventually took on the CISO role.
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While serendipity played a big role in Varma’s path to cybersecurity, she is now working to attract women to the field in a more programmatic way.