The head security (or policy enforcement) officer, Stephen Toulouse, better known as StepTo by Xbox gamers, has announced on his personal blog that he will be leaving his security post at Microsoft. Toulouse, an 18-year Microsoft veteran, claims that once he departs on February 15th, he is a “free agent” with no current plans as to what’s next for him.

StepTo over the years has provided a very unique insight into the behind-the-scenes of policy enforcement on Xbox Live. Through a number of presentations and as a participant in the Major Nelson Pod Casts, we have always found him engaging and quite interesting.

While his decisions have not always been popular and are sometimes questioned, his passion for getting it right has been unwavering. Microsoft has not made an official announcement yet on who might be Toulouse’s successor.