# Brendan Hannigan

> Brendan Hannigan is the Dublin-raised engineer, operator and investor who helped turn Q1 Labs and its QRadar platform into the foundation of IBM Security, then reunited with Q1 Labs founder Sandy Bird to build Sonrai Security. As Sonrai's CEO and co-founder, he focuses on the overlooked permissions held by people, machines and software inside public clouds, arguing that security improves when companies map who can reach what and remove access that nobody uses.

- **Role:** CEO and Co-founder at Sonrai Security
- **Organizations:** Sonrai Security, Polaris Partners, Tausight, Twistlock, Flashpoint, IBM Security, Q1 Labs, Forrester Research, Sockeye Networks, Digital Equipment Corporation, Wellfleet Communications, Motorola Codex
- **From:** Dublin, Ireland
- **Nationality:** Irish
- **Education:** Degree with honors in computer science, University College Dublin
- **Known for:** Led Q1 Labs as CEO when IBM acquired the company in 2011., Led the newly formed IBM Security Systems division after the Q1 Labs acquisition., Helped grow IBM Security into a business of approximately $2 billion in revenue.

## Career timeline

- **1980s** — Graduated with honors in computer science from University College Dublin and began writing terminal-server software at Digital Equipment Corporation in Ireland.
- **1990** — Moved to the United States to write switching software for Motorola Codex in the Boston area.
- **1990s** — Held product development roles at Wellfleet Communications and later ran the network and security research practice at Forrester Research.
- **Before 2003** — Served as vice president of marketing and technology at Sockeye Networks.
- **2003** — Joined Q1 Labs, initially leading marketing and technology functions.
- **2006** — Became chief operating officer of Q1 Labs.
- **2007** — Became president and COO of Q1 Labs.
- **2011** — Became CEO of Q1 Labs; IBM acquired the company and asked him to lead the newly formed IBM Security Systems division.
- **2015-2017** — Worked as an entrepreneur partner at Polaris Partners; invested in security companies and served as chairman of Twistlock and a board member of Flashpoint.
- **2017** — Co-founded Sonrai Security with Sandy Bird.
- **2019** — Publicly launched Sonrai Security and its cloud data control service with $18.5 million in Series A financing.
- **2024** — Sonrai launched its Cloud Permissions Firewall for AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
- **2025** — Discussed cloud privileged access management and Sonrai's WALLy product on the Get With IT podcast.

## Achievements

- Led Q1 Labs as CEO when IBM acquired the company in 2011.
- Led the newly formed IBM Security Systems division after the Q1 Labs acquisition.
- Helped grow IBM Security into a business of approximately $2 billion in revenue.
- Helped establish QRadar as a global market-share leader in security analytics.
- Co-founded Sonrai Security with Sandy Bird and raised $18.5 million at its public launch in 2019.
- Served as chairman of container-security company Twistlock and on the boards of Flashpoint and Tausight.
- Co-founded a company that raised a $50 million Series C in 2021 and launched a multi-cloud permissions firewall in 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Appeared on the Get With IT podcast to discuss cloud privileged access management and Sonrai's WALLy Cloud PAM Agent.
- **2024-11** — Commented on a Global Atlantic deployment that reduced cloud identity and permissions resolution time from six months to six days.
- **2024-04** — Sonrai launched its Cloud Permissions Firewall, and Hannigan discussed machine identities and cloud access on Inside Analysis.

## Links

- Website: https://sonraisecurity.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanhannigan
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sonraisecurity
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/pages/category/Information-Technology-Company/Sonrai-Security-503095056741916/

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/brendan-hannigan
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-28