Fast Facts

Cybervance is seeking a Sr. Cyber Defense Analyst for an on-site position in Washington, D.C., requiring an active Top-Secret Clearance/SCI to support government and private sector training programs.

Responsibilities: Key responsibilities include analyzing security events, creating custom detection rules, mentoring junior personnel, developing content for cyber defense tools, and conducting cyber defense trend analyses and reporting.

Skills: Required skills include extensive knowledge of SIEM tools, incident response methodologies, network traffic analysis, and cybersecurity policies as well as advanced communication and analytical skills.

Qualifications: Preferred qualifications include 6+ years of experience in network/data analysis, certifications in incident handling, and a strong background in detecting host and network-based intrusions.

Location: This position is located in Washington, D.C., and is not remote.

Compensation: Not provided by employer. Typical compensation ranges for this position are between $100,000 - $150,000.

Sr. Cyber Defense Analyst

Washington, D.C.| Full-time

Cybervance is an equal opportunity employer that designs, develops, and manages the successful execution of training programs for government and private sector organizations. Cybervance believes in creating innovative solutions to deliver measured results.

We are looking for a Senior Level Cyber Defense Analyst with an active Top-Secret Clearance/SCI for an on-site team located in Washington, D.C.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Ability to interpret the information collected by network tools (e.g. Nslookup, Ping, and Traceroute).

• Ability to conduct independent analysis with minimal assistance on events generated by SIEM and individual security tools.

• Ability to create custom detection rules to query log data for indicators of compromise.

• Experience conducting security event analysis from beginning to end and determining root cause.

• Experience creating and reviewing standard operating procedures with minimal supervision and oversight.

• Ability to mentor junior personnel and provide guidance on analysis that may exceed the capabilities of junior analysts.

• Knowledge of host/network access control mechanisms (e.g., access control list, capabilities lists).

• Knowledge of vulnerability information dissemination sources (e.g., alerts, advisories, errata, and bulletins).

• Knowledge of incident response and handling methodologies.

• Knowledge of incident categories, incident responses, and timelines for responses.

• Knowledge of front-end collection systems, including traffic collection, filtering, and selection.

• Experience with system administration, network, and operating system hardening techniques.

• Knowledge of cyber defense and information security policies, procedures, and regulations.

• Knowledge of the common attack vectors on the network layer.

• Knowledge of different classes of attacks (e.g., passive, active, insider, close-in, distribution attacks).

• In-depth understanding of cyber attackers (e.g., script kiddies, insider threat, non-nation state sponsored, and nation sponsored).

• Knowledge of various types of network communication (e.g., LAN, WAN, MAN, WLAN, WWAN).

• Knowledge of file extensions (e.g., .dll, .bat, .zip, .pcap, .gzip).

• Knowledge of front-end collection systems, including traffic collection, filtering, and selection

• Develop content for cyber defense tools.

• Characterize and analyze network traffic to identify anomalous activity and potential threats to network resources.

• Coordinate with enterprise-wide cyber defense staff to validate network alerts.

• Ensure that cybersecurity-enabled products or other compensating security control technologies reduce identified risk to an acceptable level.

• Document and escalate incidents (including event’s history, status, and potential impact for further action) that may cause ongoing and immediate impact to the environment.

• Perform cyber defense trend analysis and reporting.

• Perform event correlation using information gathered from a variety of sources within the enterprise to gain situational awareness and determine the effectiveness of an observed attack.

• Perform security reviews and identify security gaps in security architecture resulting in recommendations for inclusion in the risk mitigation strategy.

• Identify and analyze anomalies in network traffic using metadata.

• Conduct research, analysis, and correlation across a wide variety of all source data sets (indications and warnings).

• Validate intrusion detection system (IDS) alerts against network traffic using packet analysis tools.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher.

• 6+ years’ experience in Network/data analysis, packet capture analysis, malware detection, custom intrusion signature development, and advanced information assurance

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with excellent attention to detail

• Certifications addressing incident handling (identification, overview, and preparation) buffer overflow, client attacks, covering tacks (networks, systems), denial of service attaches, incident handing (containment, eradication, recovery, and lessons learned), network attacks, password attacks, reconnaissance, scanning (discovery and mapping, techniques and defense), session hijacking and cache poisoning, techniques for maintaining access, web applications attacks, worms, bots, and bot-nets.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in detecting host and network-based intrusions via intrusion detection technologies (e.g., Snort).

• Ability to analyze malware and conduct vulnerability scans and recognize vulnerabilities in security systems.

• Skill in determining how a security system should work (including its resilience and dependability capabilities) and how changes in conditions, operations, or the environment will affect these outcomes.

• Experience evaluating the adequacy of security designs.

• Skill in using incident handling methodologies.

• Ability to apply techniques for detecting host and network-based intrusions using intrusion detection technologies.

• Experience with using protocol analyzers and collecting data from a variety of cyber defense resources.

• Experience reading and interpreting signatures (e.g., snort).

• Experience with assessing security controls based on cybersecurity principles and tenets. (e.g., CIS CSC, NIST SP 800-53, Cybersecurity Framework, etc.)

• Ability to accurately and completely source all data used in intelligence, assessment, and/or planning products.

• Ability to apply cybersecurity and privacy principles to organizational requirements (relevant to confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, and non-repudiation).