1Kosmos names Roger Hale as Chief Information Security Officer

1Kosmos has appointed Roger Hale as Chief Information Security Officer. He previously served as Vice President and CISO at Informatica.

Hale joins the identity verification and passwordless authentication company with more than two decades of executive management experience in cybersecurity. In his new role, he will oversee internal security, privacy, compliance, customer trust and risk management.

The appointment comes as companies face growing pressure to strengthen identity controls beyond login. Attackers are increasingly targeting account recovery, device enrolment and privileged access processes, where organisations may rely on credentials or help desk checks rather than direct identity verification.

Hale spent part of his recent career at Informatica, where he led security efforts during the company's shift from enterprise software to cloud-first data management. He has also held senior security leadership roles at Agora, BigID and Veritas/Symantec.

Beyond operating roles, he served as CISO-in-Residence and Venture Advisor at YL Ventures. He is also a member of the Silicon Valley CISO Investment Group, where he acts as an investor and adviser to early-stage cybersecurity companies on product, security strategy and go-to-market readiness.

For 1Kosmos, the appointment adds an executive with direct experience in how large companies assess identity, trust and security controls. The company is seeking wider adoption of its products across enterprises, public sector bodies and regulated industries, where compliance demands and fraud risks tend to be higher.

Identity security has become a bigger issue for businesses as organisations extend digital services to staff, customers and citizens. Many verify a user's identity at onboarding, but later trust decisions often depend on passwords, multi-factor authentication and support desk procedures when users lose access, switch devices or request elevated permissions.

That gap has become more significant as cyber criminals use stolen credentials, social engineering and AI-generated impersonation to exploit weak points in user verification. Security teams have increasingly focused on confirming who is behind a request when a standard login pattern breaks down.

1Kosmos says its approach extends identity verification to higher-risk interactions, including account recovery, step-up authentication, password resets, privileged access requests and service desk validation. The company argues that binding access to a verified identity can reduce exposure to impersonation, account takeover and social engineering attacks.

Based in Iselin, New Jersey, the company says it carries out millions of authentications each day for banks, telecommunications providers, technology and service companies, healthcare organisations and retailers. It has raised more than USD $72 million in venture funding.

Hemen Vimadalal, Chief Executive Officer at 1Kosmos, linked the appointment to the company's push into a broader set of identity trust challenges inside large organisations.

"Roger understands the identity, security and trust challenges facing large enterprises because he has faced them from the CISO chair," said Vimadalal. "His decades of experience with some of the industry's leading cybersecurity vendors make him an ideal leader for 1Kosmos as we scale to meet market demand among organisations that are changing the way identity trust is established, maintained and proven."

Hale said the role attracted him to a company focused on identity checks at the moments when risk is highest, rather than only at initial access.

"Identity continues to be one of the critical risks in enterprise security, and is so much bigger than just a login," said Hale. "Attackers are using stolen credentials, social engineering and AI-enabled impersonation to exploit account recovery, device enrolment and privileged access workflows. I joined 1Kosmos because the company is addressing this risk by helping companies bring verified identity into the moments where trust is actually decided."