Network Forensics Analyst

Nightwing•Sterling, VA

1d•$122,000 - $253,000

About The Position

Nightwing is seeking a Network Forensics Analyst to support the DHS Hunt and Incident Response Team (HIRT), which provides frontline cyber incident response and proactive hunting for malicious activity affecting government agencies and critical infrastructure. The analyst will bring deep expertise in one or more network edge-device technologies, including Cisco, Ivanti, Palo Alto, Ciena, and Juniper, and support onsite and remote investigations, threat hunting, and incident response. The role evaluates and integrates network forensic and monitoring capabilities; analyzes network traffic, metadata, device logs, configurations, and telemetry; and reconstructs intrusions, attacker paths, timelines, and data exfiltration patterns. The analyst assesses network topology and device configurations, determines and advises on containment, eradication, remediation, and hardening actions, and provides technical direction to incident response teams. The role also preserves evidence, documents procedures and findings, and produces guidance and reports for technical and executive audiences.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship.
Active TS/SCI clearance.
Ability to obtain DHS Suitability.
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, or 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 applicable 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 traffic anomalies using metadata such as 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 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.
A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Cyber Security, Computer Engineering, or a related field; alternatively, a high school diploma and at least 10 years of technical experience in the area of expertise.

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 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, including 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 skill in 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, C2, 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 multiple organizational levels, including technical staff, management, and senior leadership.
Field diagnostics and cyber forensics skills, including use of preloaded analysis stacks, 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 of the following 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, including CCNP Security or CCNP Enterprise; or vendor 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 with coordinating preliminary onsite and remote incident response investigations.
Communicate investigation status, findings, and recommendations to customers during onsite engagements.
Analyze PCAP, flow data, device logs, and other network traffic to identify anomalous activity and threats.
Analyze metadata such as flow records, DNS logs, and proxy logs to detect and scope malicious activity.
Reconstruct attacks from network traffic, including timelines, attacker paths, and data exfiltration patterns.
Examine network topologies, data flows, trust boundaries, and potential choke points to inform hunting and incident response.
Assess network topology and device configurations, identify security concerns, and recommend security best practices, particularly for Cisco, Ivanti, Palo Alto, Ciena, and Juniper platforms.
Determine response actions for anomalous network 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, detect unauthorized modifications, and recommend remediation using device integrity concepts and methodologies.
Lead analysis of logs, configurations, and telemetry from routers, switches, firewalls, VPNs, and remote access appliances to identify, scope, and reconstruct intrusions.
Provide expert research and analysis on complex hunt and incident response problems with broad direction.
Provide technical direction, interpretation, and alternatives to high-level incident response teams handling network-centric incidents.
Independently determine technical objectives and develop creative solutions to complex problems.
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 during onsite and remote containment and eradication missions.
Preserve evidence integrity in accordance with standard operating procedures or national standards when collecting network data, device artifacts, and logs.
Assist in writing and publishing Computer Network Defense (CND) guidance and detailed incident reports.
Prepare executive summaries and technical reports for leadership and technical audiences.
Document analysis, TTPs, and device-specific incident handling procedures in a standardized knowledge base.
Help maintain branch process and procedure documentation and guide completion of hunt and incident response activities.