A little more about me
I come from a military family so I had the great fortune of growing up in many cities and attending many schools. I have spent most of my life in Pune although work has taken me around the block a few times. I have written a few books. I love cake, the ocean, Tintin comics, coffee, boxing and spicy mutton curry. These are my favourite movies and these are my favourite videos. I hate traffic and people who start sentences with "trust me..."
Over the last 25 years, I have started, operated, grown, sold & burnt multiple start-ups in FMCG, education & deep tech.
Cyber law, investigation & security...
In 1999, I co-founded Asian School of Cyber Laws and moved into the super exciting field of cyber law and cyber crime investigation. I have had the privilege of assisting the Government of India in framing draft rules and regulations under the Information Technology Act.
My work has taken me to 18 countries and I have investigated cyber crimes & data breaches for hundreds of organisations across many sectors - aerospace, banking, defence, law & tax enforcement, IT, manufacturing, media, medical, pharmaceuticals, shipping, trading, transportation.
Tech products...
I led the team that developed Collaborative Online Investigation Network (COIN).
I led the team that developed the ASCL Volatile Evidence Retrieval Tool (Vertool) for quick evidence retrieval from Windows computers.
I led the team that developed Primechain, a blockchain ecosystem that builds itself in 6 minutes (or less) with a functional web application, mobile Progressive Web App, and a Blockchain REST API service.
Patent related...
I have filed for a provisional US patent titled "Transparent self-managing Know Your Customer (KYC) program using blockchain and smart contracts".
My document on Man-in-the-middle attacks has been cited in patent US 8677466 B1 titled Verification of digital certificates used for encrypted computer communications (filed 2010).
Crypto & blockchain...
I developed an interest in virtual currencies in 2011 while investigating a case of organized criminals using bitcoin. From 2015 to 2020, I worked extensively in the blockchain / distributed ledger technology domain.
In 2016, I co-founded Primechain Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a blockchain startup with the mission of "building blockchains for a better world".
I co-founded BankChain - a community of 37 banks for exploring, building, and implementing blockchain solutions.
Smarketing...
In 2020, I co-founded meraQR, a startup that enables brands to monetize their packaging.
Some stuff I have written