About me

Education, qualifications, practical experience

I did my Abitur (comparable to A-levels in Britain) with the main emphasis on physics and mathematics. After school I took up my studies of Computer Science at the University of Bonn. Four semesters later I changed to the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, where I studied Applied Computer Science and graduated in 2001 as Diplom-Informatiker (FH). With my diploma thesis, I developed a system for the investigation of potential security threats in computer networks.

In 1995, I did six weeks' practical training at a spin-off company of the GMD (National Research Center for Information Technology, now part of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft). I worked in the Digital Media Lab in the IMK.VMSD department (Institute for Media Communication, Visualization and Media Systems Design) of the GMD. My task was to port an interface driver for a camera remote system from a DOS version written in C to UNIX using C++. During the six weeks I gained extensive experience with the programming languages C and C++ as well as the operating systems SunOS and IRIX. Furthermore I learned a lot about TV productions with virtual studios.

In the summer of 1996, I did some more practical training at a GMD spin-off for three months. This time my working field was the World Wide Web. My task was to set up and administer an Internet Web server on a Linux system and to create web pages using HTML and JavaScript as well as writing CGI scripts using C and Perl.

From 1995 to 1998, I worked as a student assistant for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). At first I administered the "KAS Mailbox" (a public bulletin board system). In the spring of 1996, I joined the team which was planning the upcoming website of the KAS as technical adviser. From the summer of 1996 on, I took care of the HTTP server, did HTML authoring and JavaScript programming, wrote several CGI scripts in Perl and advised in the fields of Web and other Internet technologies.

In the scope of my studies, I did six months' practical training at AKSE (Andreas Kock Software-Entwicklung, later COODEX Consulting GmbH) in 1998/99 where I worked in two different fields: software development and networking. First, I worked on a project to develop the Internet presence for a travel agency. I was involved in the planning and, after that, I was responsible for the programming of Java servlets and the administration of the database. Second, I was given the job of planning, installing and administering the company's internal network and the subsequent connection to the Internet.

From April 1999 to December 2000, I worked for COODEX as a System/Network Administrator, IT Security Consultant and coordinator in the Internet section.

In 2001/2002, I worked for Linast-Systemtechnik GmbH in the same fields, focusing mainly on IT Security.

Since 2003, I have been working in a Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) as an IT Security and Malware Analyst.

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Favorite quotations

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

"It is easier to destroy an atomic nucleus than a prejudice."

"Imagination is much more important than knowledge, because knowledge is limited."

"When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute.
 But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute - and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity."

-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born theoretical physicist and inventor of the "Theory of Relativity"

 

"If I have seen farther than other men, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants."

-- Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), English mathematician and physicist

 

"Whatever you can do, or believe you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1796-1829), German dramatist, novelist, poet, and scientist

 

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944), French author and aviator

 

"Only the one who becomes a grown-up and keeps on being a child is a human being."

-- Erich Kästner (1899-1974), German author

 

"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world."

-- Socrates (469-399 B.C.), Greek Athenian philosopher

 

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

"No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive."

-- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement

 

"People who fight may lose. People who do not fight have already lost."

-- Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), German dramatist

 

"Consider the past and you shall know the future."

-- Chinese proverb

 

"Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think."

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher

 

"When privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy."

-- Phil Zimmerman, author of the encryption software "Pretty Good Privacy" (PGP)