REDMOND, WA, September 29, 2025 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Payal Rani has been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Ms. Rani has established herself as a distinguished professional in the field of cybersecurity and software engineering, with a career spanning over 18 years of technical innovation and leadership. From her beginnings in a small town in India to serving in senior engineering roles at leading global technology companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Robinhood, and Uber, she has exemplified resilience, excellence, and a commitment to breaking barriers.

Currently serving as a staff engineer at Uber Technologies security organization, Ms. Rani partners with global teams to design resilient AI-driven systems that detect and prevent threats at internet scale, protecting millions of users worldwide. Previously at Robinhood, she spearheaded the creation of a real-time security data platform capable of ingesting billions of events to detect malicious activity with precision - a landmark achievement in building platforms that secure modern financial ecosystems.

Ms. Rani began her professional journey as an associate software engineer at IBM in 2007, where she worked on server virtualization, before advancing to Microsoft. At Microsoft, she made significant contributions to strengthening the security of Windows 10, including shipping defenses against font-based attacks and integrating UAC (User Account Control) with the anti-malware system to protect millions of Windows users. She later joined the Azure (Microsoft Cloud) security team, where she developed safeguards to ensure only trusted applications could run on Azure servers, protecting customer data and systems from advanced threats. She also led the development of user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) features for Microsoft Sentinel, applying ML to detect anomalous activities and insider threats across enterprise environments, significantly advancing Microsoft's threat detection capabilities at global scale. Alongside her engineering work, she contributed to company-wide ethical hacking efforts, identifying critical vulnerabilities and driving improvements across foundational services. For these contributions, she received a special recognition award from Microsoft in 2018.

Ms. Rani's academic excellence has been a cornerstone of her journey. She earned a Bachelor of Technology in IT (Information Technology) from Cochin University of Science and Technology, India in 2007. She graduated with distinction as a gold medalist for consistently ranking first among students from 22 affiliated colleges in her department across all semesters. She went on to earn her Master of Science in computer science from Columbia University, New York in 2013, becoming the first in her family to pursue higher education abroad. Committed to lifelong learning, she has further enhanced her expertise through advanced certifications, including machine learning from the University of Washington and the Certified Ethical Hacker designation from EC-Council in 2018.

Ms. Rani has expressed that education profoundly transformed her life, fueling a deep passion for promoting learning. During her tenure at IBM in India, she volunteered with Aksharbharti, an organization committed to fostering a love of learning. In this role, she took the initiative to establish four libraries in underserved areas, aiming to provide children from low-income communities with access to books. She was honored with the "Award of Distinction" by IBM for her generous volunteer work and contributions to the community.

Ms. Rani has been mentoring junior engineers and women for over a decade, to help them grow in their careers and realize their potential. Her passion for inspiring the next generation also led her to initiate a project at Microsoft that curated movies and books featuring positive role models, making them accessible to parents and teachers to encourage children to envision themselves as successful professionals.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Ms. Rani is actively involved in civic organizations. She served as a board member of Women in Computer Science at Columbia University from 2012 to 2013, where she worked to support and empower women pursuing careers in technology. She currently serves on the advisory board of DevNetwork, where she shares her expertise to help shape dynamic, impactful learning experiences for the global developer community.

Ms. Rani's personal life is enriched by her love for reading, learning and growing. She aims to tackle engineering challenges related to security, scaling and automation, focusing on creating faster, secure and effective systems that benefit humanity. Throughout her career, she has been supported by a strong network of family and mentors, particularly inspired by her grandfather, a science teacher who instilled in her a passion for learning from an early age. She encourages young professionals - especially women and those from underprivileged backgrounds, to embrace challenges, pursue excellence, and never be limited by circumstance. She often reminds them that the only true limits are those set by the mind and one's willingness to take risks. Her own journey, from a modest upbringing to becoming a global technology leader, stands as a powerful testament to perseverance, education, and the courage to dream big.

About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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