Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Let Go Chief Information Security Officer Rinki Sethi in Reorganization Moves

Barely two months after being named Twitter’s CEO, Parag Agrawal has made significant changes within the company. Last week, the Indian American reorganized the security team, with the exit of its two top executives. Peiter Zatko, the head of security left the company on Jan. 19, while Rinki Sethi, the chief information security officer, will depart in the coming weeks.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce my impending departure from Twitter,” Sethi tweeted. “Thanks to all of you that have reached out to check in with me, I appreciate all the kind words, thoughts and love being sent my way.”

It is with a heavy heart that I announce my impending departure from Twitter. Thanks to all of you that have reached out to check in with me, I appreciate all the kind words, thoughts and love being sent my way. ❤️🙏🏽

— Rinki Sethi (@rinkisethi) January 21, 2022

In December, Agrawal reorganized the leadership team and dismissed Dantley Davis, the chief design officer, and Michael Montano, the head of engineering, The New York Times reported. 

As the chief information security officer at Twitter, Sethi was responsible for leading efforts to protect Twitter’s information and technology assets and advise the company’s continued product innovations in the security space. 

“As one of the few women in security, back when I had started, I felt like I had to nail everything the first time and I didn’t want to take big chances due to the fear of failing.”

In an interview with Intelligent CISO, when asked about the one thing she would have changed if she could travel back in time, Sethi said she wished she had taken bigger risks easier in her career. “As one of the few women in security, back when I had started, I felt like I had to nail everything the first time and I didn’t want to take big chances due to the fear of failing. Now, when I look back at my career, I realize the times I have grown and learned the most are when I have made mistakes and taken big risks.”

Prior to joining the social media company, Sethi was the VP & CISO at Rubrik, Inc., according to her LinkedIn profile. She has been at the forefront of developing cutting-edge online security infrastructure at several Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Palo Alto Networks, Intuit, eBay, Walmart.com, and PG&E. 

She has served on the development team for the ISACA book, “Creating a Culture of Security” by Stephen Ross. She was the recipient of the “One to Watch” Award with CSO Magazine & Executive Women’s Forum in 2014 and more recently the Senior Information Security Practitioner Award with ISC2 in 2018. She led an initiative to develop the first set of national cybersecurity badges and curriculum for the Girl Scouts of USA.

Sethi holds several recognized security certifications and has a B.S. in Computer Science Engineering from UC Davis and an M.S. in Information Security from Capella University. Outside of work, she spends time with her family, especially her 12-year old daughter and 8-year-old son. She loves to travel, exercise, and watch basketball with her family.

(Top photo, courtesy, screen grab from propelo.ai)