Twitter's Top Security Officer Quits As Changes Rock Platform

The company's CISO Lea Kissner is departing amid reports that Twitter is rushing development of new features and products without undergoing a security review.

After carrying out mass layoffs last week, Twitter is also losing its chief information security officer, who decided to quit.

On Thursday, Twitter CISO Lea Kisner announced(Opens in a new window) her departure from the social media platform, which has been undergoing major changes under its new owner, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Kisner, who first joined Twitter last year as head of privacy engineering, didn’t offer a reason for her resignation. But the decision is sparking questions about the cybersecurity around Twitter, months after a former security officer at the company, Peiter Zatko, claimed the social media platform has been trying to cover up and ignore numerous security problems.

In addition to Kisner, Twitter’s chief privacy officer, chief compliance officer, and several members of the company’s privacy and security division have also resigned, according(Opens in a new window) to The Washington Post, citing internal Slack messages from company employees.

A key reason for the departures is Twitter’s push to release products and features without effective security reviews. A Slack message from a Twitter legal staffer noted this practice was “extremely dangerous” for users and could put employees under personal legal risk of violating Twitter’s 2011 data security agreement(Opens in a new window) with the US Federal Trade Commission, according to the Post.

“Given that the FTC can (and will!) fine Twitter BILLIONS of dollars pursuant to the FTC Consent Order, extremely detrimental to Twitter’s longevity as a platform. Our users deserve so much better than this,” the Slack message reads, according(Opens in a new window) to the journalist Casey Newton. That message then ended with a link to Whistleblower Aid, a law firm that’s currently representing Zatko.

Elon has shown that his only priority with Twitter users is how to monetize them," the Slack message added.

The reported resignations are a worrisome sign for Twitter when last week’s mass layoffs already affected about half of the company’s 7,500 workforce. In his own email to staff, Musk further warned of "difficult times ahead” as he tries to turn Twitter into a profitable platform.  

Musk’s latest plan to generate revenue has involved selling access to the Twitter verified blue checkmark to users for $8 per month. However, users have been quick to exploit the system to create verified, but fake accounts, which have impersonated all kinds of celebrities including Lebron James, former President George W. Bush and even Nintendo’s Mario.

In response, Twitter has been moving fast to shut down the impersonation. But the company’s own support page(Opens in a new window) admits it won’t scrutinize the usernames registered on a profile seeking to buy access to the verified badge.

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