Stuart Okin, Microsoft UK's chief security officer, has resigned from the software giant after more than two years as the public face of its efforts to make its software more secure. Okin is to move to Accenture, where he'll become an associate partner looking after the management consultant's Microsoft practice, starting next month.

Okin told El Reg that he wasn't headhunted. He says he is moving on after eight years at Microsoft to develop his career. During his time heading up Microsoft UK's security efforts, Okin actively supported industry and government partnerships to improve basic IT security. He was well-respected by his peers and maintained his sense of humour, even in the face of pointed questions by journalists over worm outbreaks or IE security problems that punctuated his time as a senior MS security spokesman.

Microsoft is yet to appoint a replacement for Okin, who became Microsoft UK's first chief security officer in February 2002. In the meantime, Nick McGrath, Microsoft's head of platform strategy, will step into the breach. ®

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