A Yahoo executive who earned Silicon Valley street cred for confronting the National Security Agency is moving to Facebook.
Alex Stamos, who became Yahoo s chief information security officer just over a year ago, announced in a Facebook post Wednesday evening that he s making the move from Sunnyvale to Menlo Park on Monday.
When Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer hired him last year, Silicon Beat wrote that Stamos has been an outspoken critic of government surveillance and the move may help Yahoo win some credibility with security analysts who have criticized Yahoo for lagging other companies in adopting encryption.
Indeed, Yahoo has gained ground on that front in the past year.
Stamos won plaudits at Austin s South by Southwest festival in March when he revealed the company will roll out end-to-end encryption for Yahoo Mail by the end of the year. In February, he verbally tussled with the director of the NSA during a cybersecurity conference.
Stamos wrote that he s moving to Facebook because there is no company in the world that is better positioned 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 Facebook security team has demonstrated a history of innovation as well as a unique willingness to share those innovations with the world, and we will build upon that history in the years to come.
