Cyber Countermeasure Specialist

The Newberry Group•Ford Island, HI

9d•Onsite

About The Position

Newberry Group is seeking an experienced, technically agile Cyber Countermeasure Specialist to support our customer’s defensive cyber operations team supporting the Joint Fires Network (JFN). Stationed inside secure SCIF environments at DISA Pacific (Ford Island, HI), this position plays a critical role in bridging detection analytics and active threat containment for the JFN Impact Level 7 (IL-7) environment and associated multi-domain operational enclaves. In this role, you will be responsible for the engineering, operational validation, deployment, and lifecycle maintenance of defensive countermeasures, detection signatures, sensor tuning, and containment workflows. Operating across up to 30 active operational nodes (including SD-WAN transport fabrics and out-of-band management links), you will tune advanced network sensor grids (such as Corelight and Elastic Defend), author actionable threat containment playbooks within Atlassian JIRA, enforce strict Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) TS/SCI spill and breach containment standards, and collaborate closely with Tier II NOC engineers (SolarWinds/Jira) and NIWC pipeline architects to neutralize adversarial activity across the JFN operational battlespace.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. Citizen
Must possess an active Top Secret clearance with current SCI eligibility (adjudicated Tier 5 / SSBI) prior to start date, with the ability to maintain clearance while working in a secure SCIF environment.
Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or related discipline with 2+ years of direct experience in intrusion detection/prevention engineering, custom signature creation, or network defense operations; OR an Associate degree with 4+ years; OR 6+ years of relevant experience/military cyber service in lieu of degree.
Bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline with 4+ years of relevant experience; OR an Associate degree with 6+ years; OR 8+ years of relevant experience/military cyber service in lieu of degree.
Must hold a valid certification or degree meeting DoD 8140.03 / DCWF Work Role Code 521: Cyber Defense Infrastructure Support Specialist at the Basic Proficiency Level prior to start.
Accepted Certifications include: CySA+, CCNA-Security, GICSP, GSEC, Security+ CE, CND, CEH, or higher (e.g., CASP+ CE, CISSP, GCIA, GCIH).
Proven experience authoring, testing, and deploying custom network intrusion signatures and parsing logic (e.g., Snort/Suricata rules, Zeek scripts, YARA, or Elastic KQL/EQL query rules)
Hands-on operational experience with enterprise sensor platforms such as Corelight, Elastic Defend / ELK Stack, or next-generation firewalls (e.g., Palo Alto Networks).
Demonstrated experience developing, documenting, and executing threat containment workflows and tracking procedures using Atlassian JIRA.
Solid understanding of core networking protocols (TCP/IP, BGP, IPsec, DNS, TLS), network perimeter architectures, and packet analysis tools (Wireshark, tcpdump).
Ability to support standard operational day shifts (8x5) with on-call flexibility for emergency after-hours containment surges or critical network defense events.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience deploying and managing countermeasures across Impact Level 6/7 (IL-6/7), SIPRNet, or Top Secret / SCI enclaves.
Familiarity with Software-Defined WAN (SD-WAN) technologies, Out-of-Band network management, and SolarWinds monitoring integrations.
Experience with automated containment scripting using Python, PowerShell, Bash, or REST APIs.
Understanding of Darktrace Managed Detection & Response (MDR) and Prometheus pipeline data flows.
Prior experience supporting C4ISR systems or joint tactical enclaves.

Responsibilities

Configure, tune, and operationalize advanced boundary and enroute security sensors—including Corelight (Zeek-based telemetry) and Elastic Defend—to maximize high-fidelity detection while suppressing noise across JFN nodes.
Design, test, validate, and maintain custom intrusion detection rules, Zeek scripts, YARA rules, and Elastic SIEM detection logic targeting emerging exploit patterns, living-off-the-land techniques, and lateral movement attempts.
Collaborate with NIWC data engineers to validate log ingestion pipelines (Logstash) from Palo Alto Advanced Threat Prevention (ATP), Prometheus, and endpoint monitors, ensuring sensor event logic triggers actionable containment mechanisms.
Track all deployed signatures and mitigation actions within JIRA; execute deliberate de-confliction procedures with DISA and operational network authorities to prevent unintended disruption to operational fires data streams.
Establish, document, and test rapid rollback mechanisms to immediately revert sensor configurations and containment rules if mission communications are impacted during crisis execution.
Leverage Atlassian JIRA to design, automate, document, and maintain end-to-end standard operating procedures (SOPs) and execution runbooks for routine threat containment, node isolation and sensor re-baselining.
Support the drafting, maintenance, and technical execution of the JFN Incident Response Plan, ensuring rapid transition from alert triage to active containment.
Drive the technical countermeasure delivery for four of the seven DoD Cybersecurity Service Provider (CSSP) core functions during Phase I standup, expanding to full CSSP operational countermeasure capability during Phase II sustainment.
Translate behavioral anomaly findings and traffic pattern analyses developed by threat hunters into actionable, rule-based containment triggers across SD-WAN interfaces and out-of-band management channels.
Implement and enforce rigorous Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) protocols for containment and technical quarantine of classified data spills, unauthorized cross-domain transfers, or credential compromise within TS/SCI and IL-6 domains.
Verify that all active countermeasures, alerting mechanisms, and log capture configurations strictly adhere to formal TS/SCI Information Systems Security Program audit criteria and JFN Security Classification Guidance.
Partner daily with JFN 24/7 Real-Time Analysts, Tier II NOC administrators managing SolarWinds and Jira, and DISA Field Command leadership to coordinate high-priority containment actions during active network events.
Conduct all defensive engineering within designated Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF), maintaining operational integrity across classified enclaves.