Twitter’s most senior cybersecurity staffer Lea Kissner has departed the social media giant.
Kissner announced the move in a tweet on Thursday, saying they made the “hard decision” to leave Twitter, but did not say for what reason they resigned. Elon Musk completed a $44 billion takeover of Twitter two weeks ago, resulting in layoffs affecting more than half of the company and the departure of senior executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Legal Policy chief Vijaya Gadde.
News of Kissner’s departure was first reported by Casey Newton. Twitter’s chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty and chief privacy officer Damien Kieran reportedly also resigned on Wednesday, Newton said, citing messages shared in Twitter Slack that he’s seeing.
The departures raise regulatory questions, specifically related to who is tracking activity on the platform and making sure Twitter is reporting information and remaining compliant with existing frameworks.
“We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern,” a spokesperson from the FTC said (per Cat Zakrzewski at The Washington Post; the FTC did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment). “No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”
It’s not immediately clear who is responsible for Twitter’s day-to-day security operations following Kissner’s departure. A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to their LinkedIn, Kissner, who uses the pronoun they, previously held roles at Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, took over the job of CISO in January 2022.
Twitter is currently bound by a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission that regulates how the company handles user data. In July, Zatko filed an 84-page whistleblower complaint with multiple U.S. government agencies, alleging that the company had violated the terms of its agreement with the FTC. Zatko also said the security lapses at Twitter were so grave that they threatened national security.
After announcing their departure, Twitter users thanked Kissner for their work on security at Twitter.
“I’m always here to help,” Kissner replied. “I just have to go do it somewhere else, unfortunately.” New Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk emailed his workers for the first time late Wednesday to prepare them for “difficult times ahead.
Elon Musk said remote work will no longer be allowed and employees will be expected to be in the office for at least 40 hours per week, subject to exceptions he himself would approve.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and took control on Oct. 27. He then moved quickly to push out some top executives including Chief Executive Parag Agrawal and announced layoffs affecting about half of Twitter’s workforce.
Chief Privacy Officer Damien Kieran and Chief Compliance Officer Marianne Fogarty have also put down their papers, the Verge reported earlier on Thursday, citing sources and messages on Twitter’s internal channels.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the departures.
Twitter’s most senior cybersecurity staffer Lea Kissner has departed the social media giant.
Kissner announced the move in a tweet on Thursday, saying they made the “hard decision” to leave Twitter, but did not say for what reason they resigned. Elon Musk completed a $44 billion takeover of Twitter two weeks ago, resulting in layoffs affecting more than half of the company and the departure of senior executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Legal Policy chief Vijaya Gadde.
News of Kissner’s departure was first reported by Casey Newton. Twitter’s chief compliance officer Marianne Fogarty and chief privacy officer Damien Kieran reportedly also resigned on Wednesday, Newton said, citing messages shared in Twitter Slack that he’s seeing.
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