Microsoft appoints chief security strategist

Microsoft has appointed Scott Charney as chief security strategist, giving him the task of developing strategies to enhance the security of Microsoft products, services and infrastructure, the company announced in a statement Thursday.

Charney will start work at Microsoft on April 1, after leaving his current post as a principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers' Cybercrime Prevention and Response Practice, according to the statement.

The appointment is part of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative announced last month by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates, when he said that customers should be able to rely on computing that is as available, reliable and secure as electricity, water services and telephony.

At PricewaterhouseCoopers, Charney provided computer security services to major companies, including designing and building computer security systems from scratch, testing existing systems and conducting cybercrime investigations, according to the statement. Before that, he was chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Criminal Division, at the U.S. Department of Justice, from 1991 to 1999.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.