Author • Speaker • Instructor

Thomas Graf

CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

Thomas Graf is the CTO of Cisco Security and Vice President Engineering for Multi-Cloud Products and a recognized leader in the fields of networking, security, and open-source technology. As the Co-Founder and CTO of Isovalent, he played a pivotal role in advancing eBPF-based networking and security solutions before the company's acquisition by Cisco.

With a deep background in Linux kernel development, Thomas previously served as a technical lead for Red Hat’s kernel team, where he contributed to foundational innovations in networking and security. As a pioneer in networking and security, Thomas has driven key advancements such as eBPF that have influenced the broader industry.

As one of the creators of Cilium, a widely adopted open source project for Kubernetes networking and security, Thomas has been at the forefront of the cloud-native movement, enabling enterprises to build secure, high-performance infrastructure at scale.

All Resources

Redefining Security & Networking: An Exclusive Dinner with Isovalent

Join Isovalent leaders during Cisco Live Melbourne for an evening of conversation about Live Protect and how it secures high-risk workloads until the patch arrives. Hear how eBPF-powered security can help security teams protect vulnerable workloads and apply Cisco-validated protection while remediation is underway. Then continue the discussion over a three-course dinner with peers.

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

  • James Black, Senior Director Product Management

Fireside chat: Open Source Vulnerabilities, Athena, and eBPF Runtime Shields

AI is changing how software vulnerabilities are found, exploited, prioritized, and fixed. As frontier models such as Mythos accelerate vulnerability discovery, security teams need a new approach that connects hardened software supply chains with real-time runtime protection.


Watch this discussion with Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security, and Chainguard co-founder and CEO Dan Lorenc on how AI is reshaping the vulnerability landscape, what this means for defenders, and how the Athena coalition can help the industry respond at the speed these threats now demand.

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

  • Dan Lorenc, Co-founder and CEO at Chainguard

Isovalent Partner Enablement Session

Join us for an exclusive partner enablement session with Thomas Graf, Co-Founder & CTO at Isovalent & VP of Security at Cisco.

Discover how Isovalent technologies, powered by eBPF, are transforming cloud-native networking and security. You’ll learn how Isovalent solutions (Networking for Kubernetes, Runtime Security, Load Balancer) integrate with Cisco’s Hypershield and Splunk, creating new opportunities for partners in Kubernetes security, visibility, and connectivity.

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

What is Isovalent Mesh Networking?

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

What is Isovalent Networking for Kubernetes?

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

What is Isovalent Good at?

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

The Isovalent Enterprise Load Balancer: Fireside Chat

Discover how a modern approach to load balancing can transform your infrastructure strategy.

Watch this special conversation with Thomas Graf, co-founder and CTO at Isovalent & VP of Security at Cisco, and Liz Rice, Chief Open Source Officer at Isovalent, as they introduce the upcoming Isovalent Enterprise Load Balancer: a next-generation solution purpose-built for the datacenter, cloud, and Kubernetes environments.

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

  • Liz Rice, Chief Open Source Officer

What is Isovalent Runtime Security?

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

The Isovalent Load Balancer

We are delighted to announce the availability of the Isovalent Load Balancer, which is designed to distribute application traffic across heterogeneous environments (traditional data center/ on-prem, cloud-native, or self-hosted/managed Kubernetes).

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

What is Isovalent Load Balancer?

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

What is the Isovalent Enterprise Platform?

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

Supercharging OpenShift with Cilium and eBPF

OpenShift with eBPF using Cilium for Networking, Security, and Observability.

  • Thomas Graf, CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Co-Creator Cilium, CTO & VP Engineering Cisco Security

  • Brandon Jozsa, Associate Principal SA: Openshift