SIE Europe: Data sharing initiative to combat cybercrime launches

SIE Europe emerged from stealth mode to launch an initiative to enable European organisations to contribute and share Internet data. This consortium advances the detection and mitigation of phishing, malware and other targeted cyberattacks against their networks.

Deutsche Telekom AG, one of the world’s leading integrated telecommunications companies, and DCSO Deutsche Cyber-Sicherheitsorganisation GmbH, a competence center and managed security service provider for the German economy, have signed agreements with SIE Europe UG to participate in this data-sharing program.

SIE Europe is co-founded by three international Internet luminaries: Dr. Paul Vixie, Chairman and CEO of Farsight Security, Christoph Fischer, CEO of BFK edv-consulting GmbH and Peter Kruse, co-founder of CSIS Security Group A/S.

“We founded SIE Europe to build a European-based community of Internet defenders who want to make the Internet safer for all users. As part of this initiative, SIE Europe will provide the infrastructure to collect, aggregate and share real-time DNS data in strict compliance with the privacy laws and regulations of the European Union, including General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR),” said Dr. Paul Vixie, Chairman and CEO of Farsight Security.

All online transactions, good or bad, begin with the DNS. By providing visibility to the IP addresses, domain names and other digital artifacts of the DNS used by threat actors, security professionals will be able to accurately identify and map criminal infrastructures in their networks and take preventive measures to protect their networks from future cybercrime activity.

“Passive DNS has been one of the most important intelligence sources in our daily work since Florian Weimer invented it in 2003. The value of a broad dragnet in the internet to monitor malicious activities and the ability to correlate with knowledge from various sources is an effective capability every IT security department should have. SIE Europe will be the key to a sharing alliance that will have a strong impact in the security arena!” said Christoph Fischer, CEO of BFK edv-consulting GmbH.

“The security community has been waiting for a cooperation and solution like this for years. The powers of passive DNS, when it comes to threat hunting, cannot be underestimated, and the more data is shared by the contributors, the more useful it becomes for the community as a whole. The foundation of SIE Europe aims for sharing and making the internet safer for the ordinary user, but it also provides a powerful tool for researchers and practitioners. I’m personally looking forward to building this sharing community and strongly believe that it will be a great united success,” said Peter Kruse, co-founder of CSIS Security Group A/S.