Cyscon


cyscon GmbH is an IT consultancy with its main headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany by Thorsten Kraft and Thomas Wolf. cyscon received widespread renown across Europe in 2010 for its role within the Conficker takedown as part of the Conficker Working Group and is a founding member of Botfrei, the German anti-botnet advisory centre. Since 2013, cyscon has powered the online security audit Check & Secure and is an official partner of the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik

cyscon SIRT (C_SIRT)

cyscon is responsible for C-SIRT, an online incident reporting team that works with a variety of partners to identify domain hacking and incidents of malware across the internet. cyscon's C-SIRT is part of the VirusTotal scanning engine.

Check & Secure

In 2013, cyscon, alongside Vodafone, founded Check & Secure as part as an end-user safety initiative. The test is divided into four parts, a Router Check, a Botnet check, a Browser and Plugin check and a "Cyber Vaccination", which includes the software of SurfRight's HitmanPro.

Press coverage

In January 2014 and again in April 2014, massive data thefts, mostly of email addresses and passwords, were discovered in Germany, causing panic amongst the general public. Check & Secure was cited in reputable German magazines such as Spiegel and Stern as a solution to the issue, as users were advised to update their browsers and plugins using the tool.

Co-operation with BSI

As part of the reaction to the issue of 18 million email accounts being lost, the Federal Office for Information Security set up a service with which the general public could check whether their own address had been compromised. Although cyscon were initially critical of the methods used by the BSI in an article on the Check & Secure blog, the company has since worked with the ministry to improve consumer safety in Germany, becoming a member of the newly formed Alianz fuer Cybersicherheit.

STOP.THINK.CONNECT

Early in 2014, Check & Secure announced its partnership with the STOP.THINK.CONNECT program, powered by the National Cyber Security Alliance. Check & Secure is an international partner of the program and will as such focus on consumers in Germany and Russia.

Swiss Internet Security Alliance

In September 2014, cyscon were named as the technical provider for the Swiss Internet Security Alliance. The partnership between cyscon and partners such as Swisscom and Sunrise was one of the first national online projects to focus solely on end user security. The SISA portal followed the template set by Check & Secure.

PhishKiller

cyscon partnered with Opera in June 2015 to create Phishkiller. Phishkiller turned into a major international project, with partners from Germany, Slovenia, Australia, Norway and Ukraine. The project was intended to provide National online incident reporting teams, security vendors and end users with tools for the recognition of Phishing The initiative was ended in 2016.