Chris O'Brien

Chris O'Brien has worked in various roles and companies throughout their career. Chris began as a Systems Engineering Manager at BAE Systems in 2007 and worked there until 2011. Chris then joined the British Army as a Reservist Army Officer, a position they held until 2013. In 2011, they transitioned to the UK Civil Service, where they served as a Cyber Security Specialist from 2011 to 2012, a GovCertUK Incident Management Team Lead from 2012 to 2014, and a CERT-UK Technical Lead from 2014 to 2016. Following their time in the UK Civil Service, they worked as a Threat Intelligence Lead at the National Cyber Security Centre in 2016. From 2017 to 2020, they served as the Senior Director of Intelligence Operations at EclecticIQ. Chris then worked at Facebook as a Security Engineering Manager from 2020 to 2021. In 2021, they joined THG as a Threat Intelligence Lead before moving on to Google as a Technical Program Manager in 2022. Currently, they hold the role of VP Security Operations at Sophos starting from 2023.

Chris O'Brien completed an MSc in Computational Science & Engineering at The University of Manchester from 2006 to 2007. Prior to that, they obtained a BSc in Physics from The University of Manchester from 2003 to 2006. In addition to their degrees, Chris holds several certifications, including the GIAC Experienced Cybersecurity Specialist Certification (GX-CS), GIAC Experienced Incident Handler Certification (GX-IH), GIAC Experienced Intrusion Analyst Certification (GX-IA), GIAC Security Professional (GSP), Product Focus Certified Product Manager, GIAC Security Expert (GSE), and GIAC Gold Research Paper.