Distinguished SLIIT alumnus Mohan Chathuranga shines as PwC Employee of the Year

Mohan Chathuranga was honoured as the PwC Employee of the Year by the Executive Directors of PwC

ISO 27001 Certification achieved by Content Management Solution

Distinguished and multi-talented Mohan Chathuranga, Alumni President from SLIIT, the nation’s largest degree awarding institute was honoured as ‘Employee of the Year’ at the recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) CEO Awards. 

SLIIT alumnus Mohan Chathuranga

Chathuranga has held many additional leadership roles while at SLIIT including President of the Student Interactive Society.

As Manager IT – Cyber Security Advisory Division for PwC, Sri Lanka, Chathuranga was recognised for showcasing outstanding leadership and performance in many areas including thought leadership, service innovation and product development, as well as supporting business growth and service to society. 

Chathuranga manages a team of 15+ security consultants overseeing various cyber security projects and also leads ISO implementation for leading banks in Sri Lanka, oil and gas, and FMCG clients. 

His areas of expertise include conducting information systems audits, information security auditing, ISO 27001 implementations, application security, vulnerability assessments, business continuity management implementation, conducting IT risk assessments, business impact analysis, selecting recovery strategies and reviewing business continuity and disaster recovery plans for various clients. 

Additionally, Chathuranga is certified as an information security manager, with extensive experience in telecommunications and financial services sectors related to governance and cyber security strategy. He also possesses a proven track record with building cyber security service lines and creating secure environment and business opportunities.

Most notably, he was the first to work with US counterparts from PwC for the launch of a gamification solution in Sri Lanka, helping to raise awareness of cyber security for the Chief Experience Officer of the organisation. 

Having understood the need to highlight the strategic intent of cyber security and help leaders ascertain the ideal balance in-between projects, infrastructure and talent, and real-time simulation of cyber threats and adversaries, Chathuranga devised a ground-breaking innovation.

The resulting product Game of Threats is a digital game that simulates the speed and complexity of a cyber-breach in our daily world. This assists executives take vital steps to protect their organisations more stringently. His gaming environment created a highly realistic experience, whereby the company and the attacker, are required to make fast, high-impact decisions with minimal information. 

Sharing insights on the local Cyber Security Channel, Chathuranga has contributed towards creating an immense impact on cyber security awareness for all Sri Lankans. His talk gained wide traction via LinkedIn and Facebook, and for the first time, this industry was broken down into detail, revealing plenty of unknown mysteries, as well as clearing doubts.

Chathuranga has also garnered much interest from many young enthusiasts through his valued views on careers in cyber security, current trends, future industry demands, how to protect oneself in cyber space, statistics and social media both locally and internationally, legal background in hacking, and how a $445 billion industry came to be to name a few. 

His thought leadership initiatives are undoubtedly much appreciated amongst industry professionals and his blog on the topic of Cyber Security in Sri Lanka is one of the most visited, recently playing a key role in awakening awareness on the same within the local community. 

During his study tenure at SLIIT, Chathuranga held several notable prestigious leadership roles; President of the Student Interactive Society in 2012 and Secretary of the Society in 2011, President Electronic and Computer Engineering Student Community 2011, Treasurer of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Student Branch for SLIIT 2011, the first member of the International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences (AIESEC) from SLIIT in 2012 and Leader of the Robofest winning team in 2010 and 2012.