Dr Brunst has worked at several chairs specialising in criminal and information law and as head of department at a basic legal research institute of the Max Planck Society. Since 2010, Dr Brunst has been working as a researcher for the Cybercrime Research Institute, an independent research institution based in Cologne.

In the past, Dr Brunst has worked as a consultant or expert for numerous institutions, including the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the UN and NATO. He lectures in the field of cybercrime law at numerous universities in Germany and abroad and has been a lecturer for the "European Certificate on Cybercrime and Digital Evidence" at several teaching locations.

Outside of his academic activities, Dr Brunst works full-time at a German federal authority.

Dr Brunst works at the interface between law and technology. In particular, he analyses current issues in the field of information law and especially information criminal law. His main areas of interest lie in the field of computer crime - in particular in the area of secret access to IT systems, anonymisation and identification options and the effects of illegal access to critical infrastructures.

• Cyber defence, in: Dietrich/Eiffler (eds.), Recht der Nachrichtendienste, Stuttgart 2017, pp. 817-864.
• State (anti-)crypto strategies, DuD 2012, pp. 333-338.
• Limits of digital anonymity, DANA 2011, pp. 4-7.
• Bellini/Brunst/Jähnke (eds.), Current Issues in IT-Security, Berlin 2010.
• Cybercrime Legislation in Germany, in: Basedow/Kischel/Sieber (eds.), German National Reports to the XVIII. International Congress of Comparative Law, Tübingen 2010, pp. 711-800.
• Gercke/Brunst, Praxishandbuch Internetstrafrecht, Stuttgart 2009.
• Anonymity on the Internet - legal and factual framework conditions, Berlin 2009.
• Terrorism and the Internet, in: Wade/Maljevic (eds.), A War on Terror? New York 2009, pp. 51-78.
• Use of the Internet by Terrorists, in: Centre of Excellence - Defence Against Terrorism (ed.), Responses to Cyber Terrorism, Amsterdam 2008, pp. 34-60.
• Sieber/Brunst, Cyberterrorism and other use of the Internet for terrorist purposes, in: Council of Europe (ed.), Cyberterrorism, Strasbourg 2007, pp. 9-105.