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Yahoo Loses Chief Security Officer to Facebook

Facebook security will keep treading the innovation road

Jun 25, 2015 07:57 GMT  ·  By
Stamos fills in the void left by Sullivan's move to Uber
   Stamos fills in the void left by Sullivan's move to Uber

After spending about one year and a half as Chief Security Officer at Yahoo, Alex Stamos accepted an offer from Facebook, for the same role.

The security expert announced the move in a post on the social network and on Twitter on Wednesday night, saying that the new stint would start on Monday, June 29.

Innovation in security and sharing is still the prime directive

Stamos will fill the gap left behind by Joe Sullivan, who changed in April the security challenges at Facebook for those created by the millions of daily trips enabled by the Uber ride-sharing service.

Facebook’s CSO said that the new position would allow him “to tackle the challenges faced not only by today’s Internet users but for the remaining 2/3rds of humanity we have yet to connect.”

The long-term plan is to continue on the path of security innovations already started at Facebook and sharing them with the world. One of the examples is the ThreatExchange platform, which allows security professionals to share threat information so that organizations can protect their assets better, with less effort and in a shorter time.

“Their win, our loss” says Yahoo Paranoid

Stamos also applauded the work of his former security colleagues, known as the Yahoo Paranoids. “Their commitment, brilliance, drive and pioneering spirit made it a pleasure to roll up our sleeves and get to work,” the new Facebook CSO said.

In the avalanche of congratulatory messages and best of luck wishes he received after making the announcement, some acknowledged that Yahoo lost an important man, while others viewed the move as a step up in Stamos’ career.

“Good luck at FB; their win, our loss. Hope you can move the needle fighting for the users,” said Jan Schaumann, Senior Principal Paranoid at Yahoo.

Coincidence or not, Facebook’s stock price recorded an increase of 1.12% following the announcement, reaching $88.86 (currently €79.32).