Local Expertise to Global Leadership: Vikas Arora's Journey in Securing Mastercard's Digital Future
One morning in 2010, a young engineer in India submitted his final code review before boarding a flight that would change his career. Today, that engineer, Vikas Arora, directs Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) at Mastercard, where he leads critical technical operations and cybersecurity initiatives. His journey from writing code in Bangalore to protecting billions of global transactions reflects a deeper story about modern finance, one where a single dropped data packet could mean thousands of failed purchases, and each millisecond of system reliability translates directly to consumer trust.
Digital payments could reach $14 trillion by 2030, making reliable infrastructure crucial for Mastercard. Vikas Arora leads SRE efforts that have strengthened Mastercard’s position in financial system dependability.
Building Digital Financial Security
Vikas Arora has developed his expertise in cloud automation, DevOps, and financial transaction security over 14 years. At Mastercard, he manages a global team of 23 engineers across the United States and India. He implements real-time system monitoring, regulatory compliance measures, and automated recovery systems that raise industry standards in reliability engineering.
Vikas Arora created and implemented a preventive incident management system. His team uses AI analytics to identify potential system issues early, improving upon reactive monitoring. This method helps maintain Mastercard’s network security and consistent transaction processing. He reduced system interruptions by enhancing incident response methods, conducting real-time system tests, and strengthening Mastercard’s technical capabilities.
Also, Vikas Arora implemented detailed transaction monitoring within Mastercard’s systems. Financial transactions require precise security measures distinct from standard data handling. His team created monitoring tools that examine transactions throughout their processing cycle to detect security risks or processing issues. This focus on accuracy ensures reliable and secure financial exchanges through Mastercard’s systems.
Advancing Compliance and Infrastructure
Global finance requires precise compliance measures to protect millions of daily transactions. Vikas Arora encountered this reality at Mastercard in 2022 when manual compliance checks consumed thousands of staff hours annually. With transaction volumes doubling yearly, standard security protocols proved insufficient.
“The compliance team spent weeks on each audit,” Arora said. “They checked thousands of controls by hand. The process needed to change.”
Arora and his cross-continental team built an automated compliance verification system that now continuously tracks 2,000 security controls. The project, completed in six months, compressed weeks of manual verification into minutes. The system monitors software changes and modifications to meet payment card industry security standards (PCI-DSS) and federal financial regulations (Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX). These standards protect consumer data and ensure accurate financial reporting. When the system spots potential security or compliance issues, it suggests fixes based on successful past solutions stored in its database.
Automated Compliance and Recovery
The system cut manual audit times by 70% and increased compliance accuracy by 85%. Arora’s team then added predictive capabilities to catch potential issues early. The models now run 50,000 daily checks, keeping Mastercard compliant while maintaining fast development cycles.
Mastercard’s network processes more daily transactions than many payment providers handle monthly. To manage this volume, Arora created an automated recovery system. It responds to transaction spikes and security concerns independently while often addressing issues before they affect customer payments.
The 2023 holiday season proved this system’s effectiveness. As digital payments peaked, the network handled a 300% traffic increase without disruption. “The transaction volume matched some countries’ annual GDP,” Arora said, “yet every payment processed smoothly.”
Recognition and Industry Impact
In 2023, Arora received the Move Fast Award for upgrading system databases without service interruptions. Additional Own It and Sense of Urgency awards followed, acknowledging his team’s work in system maintenance and recovery protocols.
Outside Mastercard, Vikas Arora evaluates new financial technology as a judge for The Conrad Challenge. His guidance has helped 50 startups implement professional-grade reliability standards. These companies now strengthen security practices across the financial sector.
Digital payments continue to expand through cryptocurrencies and instant transfers. Vikas Arora’s team develops new systems to process these transactions securely. Each successful payment on Mastercard’s screens represents public trust—the expectation that every transaction will be completed reliably and securely. “The financial sector keeps advancing, and our reliability engineering methods must adapt accordingly,” he explained. “Here, we are building a digital financial future that will endure.”
Photo credit:Vikas Arora
