Microsoft has appointed a chief security officer for the U.K. as part of its efforts to build better protection from hackers and viruses into its market-dominating software. The appointment of Stuart Okin, an e-platform technology practice manager with Microsoft Services Organization for five years, will be publicly announced within the next few days. Okin's appointment comes at a critical time for the software giant, which is trying to build up momentum behind its security initiatives while winning the trust of consumers and large corporations for its new e-business framework, .Net. Microsoft launched the development environment for .Net, Visual Studio .Net, earlier this week. Shortly afterwards a U.S. security firm claimed to have found a security flaw with a .Net component. Microsoft has not yet acknowledged whether the flaw exists.

However, Okin criticized companies who go public with software flaws before they've been fixed. "Responsible bodies should be going back to the vendors with any security concerns first, giving them an opportunity to put a patch together before it is announced," Okin said. "We will listen, and we will examine anything that is brought to us." In early February, Microsoft engaged in what it characterized as a major month-long security drive, putting its Windows developers, testers and program managers through courses in secure programming and taking other measures to steep them in the principles of security.