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LinkedIn appointed Lea Kissner as its chief information security officer (CISO) on August 28, 2024. Kissner confirmed the move in a post on the same day. Later professional sources, including USENIX and Kissner’s profile, continue to identify them as LinkedIn’s CISO, so this is a 2024 leadership appointment rather than a new 2026 announcement.
What LinkedIn announced
LinkedIn said on August 28, 2024, that Kissner would lead its cybersecurity organization. Kissner also announced the appointment directly on LinkedIn, describing a responsibility to protect members, customers and employees. Their post framed security as engineering work that should make systems more robust, not simply a defensive or compliance function.
The formal title is chief information security officer. “Security chief” is shorthand; the announcement does not establish that Kissner runs every corporate-security, physical-security or law-enforcement function at LinkedIn.
Sources: LinkedIn’s announcement and Kissner’s announcement.
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Lea Kissner’s career
Kissner brings more than 17 years of security and privacy experience, with a career spanning platform companies, cloud security and privacy engineering. Their background includes cryptography research and senior operating roles.
| Organization | Role or focus reported by sources |
|---|---|
| Global lead of privacy technology | |
| Humu | Chief privacy officer |
| Zoom | Security and privacy consultant |
| Apple | Director of engineering |
| Twitter (now X) | Head of privacy engineering, then CISO |
| Lacework | CISO |
| CISO from August 28, 2024 |
USENIX identifies Kissner as holding a Ph.D. in computer science, specializing in cryptography, from Carnegie Mellon University, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. The fuller chronology is reported by SecurityWeek and summarized in their USENIX biography.
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Why the Twitter connection drew attention
Kissner was Twitter’s CISO and head of privacy engineering before leaving in November 2022, weeks after Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company. Contemporary coverage described the departure alongside a wave of senior privacy and security exits, which made the later LinkedIn appointment newsworthy.
That timing does not, by itself, establish why Kissner left, prove a particular security failure, or show that LinkedIn hired them to respond to Twitter’s post-acquisition turmoil. The significance is more limited and clearer: LinkedIn selected a security executive who had led privacy and security at a heavily scrutinized social platform.
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What a LinkedIn CISO has to secure
LinkedIn combines professional identity, employment history, recruiting, messaging, advertising and enterprise data. A CISO’s general remit in that environment typically includes enterprise and product security, data protection, security engineering, incident response, vulnerability management and security governance. Those functions require coordination with engineering, privacy, legal, compliance, trust and safety, and executive leadership; LinkedIn’s announcement does not publish Kissner’s detailed reporting lines.
The platform’s risk profile also differs from that of a conventional consumer social network. A compromised account can be used for credential theft, employment scams, impersonation or targeted social engineering. Security controls therefore intersect with identity verification, abuse prevention, privacy engineering, content integrity and the obligations LinkedIn has to business customers.
- Identity and account security: preventing takeover of accounts that carry professional credentials and relationships.
- Member and customer data: limiting unauthorized access to personal, recruiting and enterprise information.
- Messaging and recruiting abuse: reducing phishing, fraud and impersonation carried through trusted professional channels.
- Platform resilience: designing systems that remain dependable during attacks, failures and rapid product change.
The executive transition
Kissner succeeded Geoff Belknap, who served as LinkedIn’s CISO until June 2024, according to contemporaneous reporting. Belknap subsequently moved to a separate leadership role at Microsoft. The available accounts do not describe the move as a demotion or link it to a security incident.
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TechCrunch reported that Belknap congratulated Kissner and said LinkedIn was in good hands. Read the transition details in TechCrunch.
Why the appointment matters
The notable feature of the hire is the combination of disciplines. Kissner has run security organizations, built privacy-engineering programs and trained in cryptography. That mix is relevant to LinkedIn because many of its hardest security decisions involve both unauthorized access and legitimate use of personal information.
The career also spans consumer technology, enterprise cloud security and a professional network. That breadth can help a CISO evaluate controls across different threat models, although the appointment announcement does not promise specific initiatives or organizational changes.
Current status
As of the later sources available for this article, USENIX and Kissner’s LinkedIn profile still identify them as LinkedIn’s CISO. The appointment itself occurred on August 28, 2024; readers should not mistake references to the role for a breaking 2026 change.
Sources: USENIX and Kissner’s profile.
The Bottom Line
Lea Kissner became LinkedIn’s CISO on August 28, 2024, succeeding Geoff Belknap. Their experience across cryptography, privacy engineering, platform security, Twitter and Lacework makes the appointment significant, but public sources do not tie it to a specific LinkedIn crisis or disclose a detailed new security program.
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