More ITSPmagazine's Remote - yet amazing - CyberCon Melbourne Coverage!
Sean Martin, CISSP and I reconnected with our friend Tim Brown, CISO at SolarWinds, who is keynoting the event talking about Leading Through Crisis, Trust, Context, and Resilience.
Tim Brown's job changed overnight. December 11th, he was managing security operations at SolarWinds. December 12th, he was leading response to one of cybersecurity's most scrutinized incidents.
We caught up with our longtime friend from New York and Florence to Melbourne ahead of his keynote at #AISA CyberCon. Tim became the first CISO ever charged by the SEC—a distinction nobody wants, but one that shaped his mission to help others prepare for their own crisis moments.
What saved SolarWinds? Implicit trust. The war room team operated without second-guessing because relationships were built before December 2020.
Tim's CIO handled deployment. Engineering investigated the build system. Marketing and legal managed their domains. Everyone knew their role.
"400 engineers focused completely on security for six months in pure focus.
When you say it with emotion, it conveys the real cost," Tim explains. Written communication failed during the incident. People needed to hear, to feel the weight of decisions in real time.
Tim now mentors aspiring #CISOs through the RSA Conference CISO Bootcamp, teaching the non-technical aspects of security leadership: board communication, managing stress, building culture. He's candid about the toll—including a heart attack in Zurich the week his SEC charges were announced—and why finding your safe place isn't a luxury, it's survival.
His CyberCon keynote covers incident response stages and how culture determines who steps up versus who runs away when crisis hits.
Watch or listen:
🎬 Full Interview: https://youtu.be/4jqx_IshhWI
🎧 Podcast: https://itspradio.com/episodes/first-ciso-charged-by-sec-tim-brown-on-trust-context-and-leading-through-crisis-interview-with-tim-brown-aisa-cybercon-melbourne-2025-coverage-on-location-with-sean-martin-and-marco-ciappelli
🎬 Highlights: https://youtu.be/z5_GJEuBNdU
Click here for the full coverage with more interviews with Jacqueline Jayne, Amberley Brady, and more to come!
If you're leading security teams or aspiring to, Tim's lessons are essential. Build trust now, before you need it.
#CISO #Leadership #IncidentResponse #Cybersecurity #CyberConMelbourne #SolarWinds #CrisisManagement #SecurityLeadership #infosec