Network Forensics Analyst (IV)

NewGen Technologies•Arlington, VA

About The Position

NewGen Technologies is seeking a Network Forensics Analyst to support a critical customer mission providing incident response to government agencies and critical infrastructure owners affected by cyberattacks. The role supports on- and off-site investigations through advanced technical assistance, proactive hunting, rapid incident response, and host- and network-based cybersecurity analysis. The analyst characterizes breaches and develops mitigation and remediation plans, with deep expertise in one or more edge-device technologies such as Cisco, Ivanti, Palo Alto, Ciena, and Juniper. The analyst serves as a hunt and incident response subject matter expert, supports the evaluation and integration of network forensic and monitoring capabilities, and contributes to preliminary investigations in coordination with Government leads. The role involves analyzing network traffic, metadata, device logs, configurations, and telemetry; reconstructing malicious activity; assessing network architectures and device integrity; and recommending and supporting containment, eradication, hardening, and other mitigations. The position also contributes to CND guidance, incident reports, executive summaries, and standardized knowledge-base documentation.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship.
TS/SCI clearance.
Ability to obtain DHS Suitability.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cyber Security, Computer Engineering, or a related field; alternatively, a high school diploma and 10+ years of technical experience in the area of expertise.
At least 8 years of directly relevant experience.
At least 3 years of experience evaluating and implementing new cyber response or network forensic capabilities.
Hands-on incident response or network operations experience with enterprise edge devices from at least two of these vendors: Cisco, Ivanti, Palo Alto, Ciena, and Juniper.
Strong understanding of network architecture and security, including routing, switching, VPNs, firewalls, segmentation, and defense in depth.
Knowledge of CND policies, procedures, and regulations relevant to U.S. government or similar environments.
Ability to characterize and analyze network traffic to identify anomalous activity and potential threats.
Ability to identify and analyze network anomalies using metadata, including flow, DNS, and proxy data.
Ability to reconstruct malicious activity using network traffic and device logs.
Understanding of general attack stages and how they manifest across networks.
Understanding of system and application security threats and vulnerabilities and how they appear in network traffic.
Understanding of proactive systems and network analysis, including establishing trust levels for critical resources and detecting anomalous behavior.
Proficiency with common operating systems, such as Linux/Unix and Windows.
Experience performing cyber incident response, including scoping, containment, eradication, and recovery, in operational environments.
Ability to think independently, make sound decisions under pressure, and work with limited guidance.
Strong written and oral communication skills, including explaining technical issues to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Ability to collaborate across physical locations and within distributed teams.
Skill in identifying attack classes and stages and translating findings into actionable recommendations.
Ability to rapidly configure network TAPs, packet brokers, SPAN ports, and unmanaged or managed switches without disrupting live production or air-gapped traffic.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading and mentoring technical teams in incident response, network operations, or security engineering.
Network and system administration experience in large or complex enterprise or service-provider environments.
Strong understanding of adversarial TTPs, including MITRE ATT&CK, and operational threat environments ranging from non-nation-state actors to nation-state actors.
Knowledge of defense-in-depth and zero-trust principles and their application to network and edge-device architectures.
Knowledge of system and application security threats and vulnerabilities, such as buffer overflows, mobile code, cross-site scripting, injections, race conditions, covert channels, replay, ROP, and malicious code.
Knowledge of network-device integrity verification and monitoring approaches.
Hands-on host and network intrusion detection and event correlation across telemetry sources such as firewalls, IDS/IPS, endpoints, and SIEM.
Experience analyzing malicious activity, including network beaconing, command and control, and data exfiltration.
Experience with IAM tools and their integration into network and edge-security architectures.
Ability to review Enterprise Architecture from a security perspective and recommend architecture-level improvements.
Ability to collaborate with stakeholders at technical, management, and senior leadership levels.
Field diagnostics and cyber forensics skills, including running preloaded analysis stacks, using protocol parsers such as Modbus, DNP3, and OPC UA, vulnerability scanning, and local packet capture at line rate.
Ability to pack, secure, and transport ruggedized cases such as Pelican or Nanuk cases within standard weight and carry-on or air-transport limits.
One or more desired certifications: IASAE II, CSSP Analyst, GCIA, GCIH, CSSP Incident Responder, or CEH.
SANS GIAC GCIA or GNFA certification; preferred for network forensics.
SANS GRID, GICSP, or GCIP certification.
Vendor or network certifications, highly desired: Cisco CCNA or higher (CCNP Security or CCNP Enterprise), or certifications for Palo Alto, Juniper, Ciena, or Ivanti, such as PCNSE or JNCIS/JNCIP.

Responsibilities

Serve as a hunt and incident response subject matter expert, applying knowledge of threat actor tools, techniques, and procedures, particularly for network-centric and edge-device compromises.
Evaluate and integrate new network forensic and monitoring capabilities as part of a technology insertion team.
Assist the Government lead in coordinating preliminary incident response investigations, including onsite and remote engagements.
Interface with customers onsite and communicate incident status, findings, and recommendations.
Analyze network traffic, including packet captures, flow records, and device logs, to identify anomalous activity and threats.
Use metadata such as flow records, DNS logs, and proxy logs to detect and scope malicious activity.
Reconstruct malicious activity from network traffic, including timelines, attacker paths, and data-exfiltration patterns.
Examine network topologies, data flows, trust boundaries, and potential choke points to inform hunt and response activities.
Assess network topologies and device configurations and recommend security best practices, particularly for Cisco, Ivanti, Palo Alto, Ciena, and Juniper platforms.
Determine appropriate responses to anomalous activity, including containment, eradication, and hardening.
Apply defense-in-depth principles and knowledge of attack stages to evaluate and improve network security architecture and edge-device configurations.
Validate network-device state and integrity, detect unauthorized modifications, and recommend remediation.
Lead analysis of logs, configurations, and telemetry from routers, switches, firewalls, VPNs, and remote access appliances to identify and reconstruct intrusions.
Provide expert analysis and research on complex hunt and incident response problems with broad direction.
Provide technical direction, interpretation, and alternatives on high-level incident response teams handling network-centric incidents.
Independently develop technical solutions to complex problems and determine technical objectives.
Analyze incident data and victim environments and recommend targeted mitigations, including network segmentation, policy updates, and device hardening.
Advise technical personnel on implementing and customizing countermeasures, such as firewall rules, IPS signatures, and access control lists.
Support internal stakeholders with onsite and remote containment and eradication missions.
Preserve evidence integrity according to standard operating procedures or national standards when collecting network data, device artifacts, and logs.
Assist in writing and publishing CND guidance and detailed incident reports for appropriate audiences.
Translate findings into executive summaries and in-depth technical reports for leadership and technical audiences.
Document analysis, TTPs, and device-specific incident handling procedures in a standardized knowledge base.
Assist in maintaining branch process and procedure documentation and guide completion of hunt and incident response activities.