Tim Brown went through one of the most notable cyber incidents in history. As CISO of SolarWinds from 2017 through 2025, he led the response to the SUNBURST attack in December 2020. He also led through the SEC action that followed, until the case against him and the company was dropped in December 2025. He is candid about what carried SolarWinds through: the best people available, and a lot of luck.

That experience drives his work today. As Chief Strategy Officer at Cytactic, Tim is focused on taking the luck out of incident response. He helps organizations prepare not only to survive cyber incidents, but to thrive through them.

As a Partner and CISO in Residence at Team8, Tim leads the Team8 CISO Village, the community of security leaders that stood with him through the hardest years of his career. Together with the Village and Team8’s portfolio, he works to fund and build the innovative startups that are critical to securing our future.

At SolarWinds, Tim worked with the CEO to shape the company’s “Secure by Design” philosophy, spoke with thousands of customers, and led remediation support. He is a former Dell Fellow, CTO and Chief Product Officer with more than 25 years of experience. His work as a trusted advisor has taken him from meetings with members of Congress and the Senate to the White House Situation Room, and he holds 18 issued patents on security topics.