S2 Grupo launches a spin-off company specialized in blockchain and cybersecurity

• Cryptonics Consulting will offer consulting and development services with blockchain and cryptography from the point of view of cybersecurity.
• This type of technology, which is used by some of the world’s largest companies to digitize assets or automate business processes through intelligent contracts, among others, has introduced new cybersecurity risks.
• In 2018, an estimated $1.7 billion dollars were lost in theft of digital assets by cybercriminals.

Valencia, March 5, 2019.- S2 Grupo, a Valencian company specializing in cybersecurity and critical systems management, has launched CryptonicsConsulting. It is a spin-off company specialized in blockchain and cybersecurity, offering consulting services and developments with blockchain technology and cryptography made from the perspective of cybersecurity. This company combines the cybersecurity experience of its parent company, S2 Grupo, with a solid training in distributed systems research. The CEO and co-founder of the company, Stefan Beyer, has been involved in distributed systems research  internationally for over 10 years, working on consensus protocols and replicated data models since 2004. Recently, he was selected to participate in the European Union Blockchain Observatory and the Working Group of the Forum on Policy and Framework Conditions. "S2 Grupo, through its extensive experience in cybersecurity, ethical hacking and the development of secure software, is a valuable source of knowledge for Cryptonics Consulting. Cybersecurity has spread to practically all social and business areas and, in this sense, we have decided to opt for hyper-specialization through the creation of this spin-off", said Miguel A. Juan, S2 Group's managing partner and co-founder of Cryptonics. "Cryptonics Consulting will focus on Blockchain technologies, will be flexible in a rapidly moving market and, at the same time, offer its clients a security guarantee in services that can be critical for their business", said José Rosell, managing-partner of S2 Grupo and co-founder of Cryptonics. As noted, blockchain technology has been around for 10 years. In this time, the technology behind Bitcoin has evolved from its initial application for cryptocurrencies to solutions for innovative business applications beyond the financial sectors. In fact, today, some of the largest companies in the world rely on this type of technology to digitize assets, prove the origin of products in supply chains, maintain the integrity of distributed data and automate business processes through of smart contracts. Blockchain and cybersecurity While blockchain technology can significantly improve enterprise software infrastructure, by providing automated protocol-level confidence, the added functionality of such layers opens up new cybersecurity risks. Digitalized assets and smart contracts represent high incentive targets for cybercriminals. Beside this, the complex and transparent nature of the blockchain architectures increases the potential attack surface. According to estimates, in 2018 $1.7 billion dollars were lost in theft of digital assets. Most of these incidents were due to vulnerabilities in the architecture design, the exploitation of intelligent contracts and the mismanagement of cryptographic keys. "The unregulated nature and the way in which the blockchain industry was born have led to failure to take adequate security measures in its development. For this reason, we have defined processes and methodologies to apply the best cybersecurity practices in both the development and application of this type of technology", explained Stefan Beyer, CEO and co-founder of Cryptonics. CryptonicsConsulting will focus its objective on the one hand on carrying out cybersecurity audits of all blockchain-based processes in companies. These audits focus on the level of protocol, the management of cryptographic keys, intelligent contracts and top-level application layers, to detect possible vulnerabilities in these processes and apply the appropriate solutions. And, on the other hand, in addition to the audit services, Cryptonics Consulting will accompany the blockchain projects throughout their life cycle, through consulting and development services. These services include technology selection, feasibility studies, architecture definition, general project consulting and the actual development and deployment of blockchain-based applications. In all these services, the company leverages the experience of S2 Grupo in cybersecurity to ensure the attack surface of Blockchain systems and maintain the level of threat in the deployment of said system to a minimum. Another special feature of Cryptonics Consulting is that it has a highly specialized in public applications of public blockchains such as private and consortium business platforms, including Ethereum, Hyperledger or Cosmos SDK. The company's clients include the Singapore-based freelance portal "Wedoo", Estonia's intelligent contract insurance platform "Black Insurance" and the Canadian-based decentralized cloud services platform "Flux Network". More information: prensa@s2grupo.es