Raja Mikkili

Raja Mikkili

Vice President, Core Technologies and Security, Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Raja Mikkili leads cybersecurity strategy, data analytics, AI, and technology initiatives at Arcutis Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq: ARQT), which he joined in 2021. His career spans aerospace and defense, pharmaceuticals, private equity, and construction, with prior leadership roles at ARCO, EaglePicher Technologies, and Zydus Pharmaceuticals, where he ran IT modernization and security programs under DoD and FDA compliance.

An engineer by training, he describes risk as the constant across every industry he has worked in, and frames the security leader’s job as enabling a business to reach its goals without losing control. He holds an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and is an ISACA Certified Information Security Manager.

Mikkili appeared on Open Door Salon with intellectual property litigator Anne Elise Herold Li to discuss what nation states actually target in biotech, how to run vendor risk management down to the roots of a supply chain, and what AI-accelerated attack reconnaissance changes for small and mid-size companies.

On Open Door Salon

“Raja Mikkili and Anne Herold Li on Why Nation States Target Small Biotechs”
Raja Mikkili & Anne Herold Li · July 29, 2026

Episode page & show notes on Open Door Salon

“They’re not just after a company’s database, but they’re looking at a full roadmap for an organization.”Raja Mikkili, on Open Door Salon (on what separates a nation state from an ordinary threat actor)

“If an 11-year-old can actually do this, what can an attacker do with AI?”Raja Mikkili, on Open Door Salon (on AI collapsing the reconnaissance phase of an attack)

“It’s not a one-time exercise, but a continuous monitoring because things change, landscapes change, systems change, people change.”Raja Mikkili, on Open Door Salon (on vendor risk management as a full lifecycle program)

In this episode

What nation states actually target in biotech
Why small biotechs are the bigger prize
The West Pharmaceutical wake-up call
Auditing your supply chain down to the roots
Honeypots, dummy data, and vendor firewalls
AI attacking AI: recon at machine speed
The COINS Act and who gets audited
Data ownership: the four-sentence vulnerability

Topics

Biotech CybersecurityNation-State ThreatVendor & Third-Party RiskSupply Chain SecurityAI SecurityData AnalyticsIT ModernizationDoD & FDA Compliance

Watch on Open Door Salon

Nation States Aren't Targeting Big Pharma. They're Targeting You. | Raja Mikkili & Anne Herold Li

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