Alex Stamos

Alex Stamos was born in 1979 in Los Angeles County, California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001 with a degree in electrical engineering and computer science, afterward working at the security consultancy @stake before moving into independent security research and consulting.

iSEC Partners and Early Career

In 2004, Stamos co-founded the security consultancy iSEC Partners, which built a reputation for offensive-security research. NCC Group acquired iSEC Partners in October 2010.

Chief Information Security Officer at Yahoo

In 2014, Stamos became Yahoo's Chief Information Security Officer, tasked with rebuilding the company's security posture. In February 2015 he publicly challenged NSA Director Michael S. Rogers on the risks of encryption backdoors. Stamos resigned from Yahoo in June 2015, reportedly after clashing with company leadership over a classified government program to scan user email on behalf of the NSA and FBI.

Facebook and the 2016 Election Investigation

Stamos joined Facebook as Chief Security Officer in 2015. He led the company's internal investigation into Russian-linked influence operations on the platform during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, work that culminated in Facebook's September 2017 disclosure of ad spending tied to inauthentic, Russia-connected accounts. Stamos departed Facebook in August 2018 amid reported internal disagreements over how aggressively the company should investigate and disclose disinformation campaigns.

Stanford Internet Observatory and Later Work

After leaving Facebook, Stamos joined Stanford University. In 2019 he founded and directed the Stanford Internet Observatory, a research program studying abuse of information technologies on social media. Under Stamos, the Observatory produced widely cited research on election integrity and platform manipulation. In 2021, Stamos co-founded the Krebs Stamos Group with former CISA director Chris Krebs; SentinelOne acquired the firm in late 2023, and Stamos became SentinelOne's Chief Trust Officer.

Timeline

• 1979Born in Los Angeles County, California.
• 2004Co-founded the security consultancy iSEC Partners.
• 2014Named Chief Information Security Officer of Yahoo.
• 2015-06Resigned as Yahoo's CISO amid disagreement over a government email-scanning program.
• 2015Became Chief Security Officer of Facebook.
• 2017-09Facebook disclosed Russia-linked ad spending during the 2016 election, based on the investigation Stamos led.
• 2018-08Departed Facebook amid internal disputes over disinformation disclosure.
• 2019Founded and became director of the Stanford Internet Observatory.
• 2021Co-founded the Krebs Stamos Group cybersecurity consultancy.
• 2023-11SentinelOne acquired Krebs Stamos Group; Stamos became SentinelOne's Chief Trust Officer.