Network Forensics Defense Analyst

Argo Cyber Systems•Arlington, VA

About The Position

Argo Cyber Systems is seeking a Network Forensics Analyst to support the Department of Homeland Security Hunt and Incident Response Team (HIRT), which provides frontline cyber incident response and proactive threat hunting for U.S. infrastructure. The role supports on- and offsite incident response for government agencies and critical infrastructure owners, providing advanced technical assistance, proactive hunting, rapid onsite response, and investigations using host- and network-based cybersecurity analysis. The analyst investigates breaches, characterizes their severity, and develops mitigation and remediation plans, with particular expertise in network and edge-device technologies such as Cisco, Ivanti, Palo Alto, Ciena, and Juniper. The analyst serves as a technical expert on complex hunt and incident response efforts. The position includes analyzing network traffic, metadata, device logs, configurations, and telemetry; reconstructing attacks; assessing network architecture and device integrity; and recommending containment, eradication, hardening, and other mitigations. The analyst may support customer engagements onsite or remotely, work with distributed teams, preserve evidence according to applicable procedures or standards, and produce technical guidance and reports for both leadership and technical audiences. The role requires U.S. citizenship, an active TS/SCI clearance, eligibility to obtain DHS Suitability, and either a relevant bachelor's degree or a high school diploma with substantial technical experience. Work may be remote or onsite as required.

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 involving 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 Computer Network Defense 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 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 system 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 the ability to explain 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.
Either a bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cyber Security, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or 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 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, 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 skills in host/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 activity, and data exfiltration.
Experience with Identity and Access Management 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 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 of the following certifications: IASAE II, CSSP Analyst, GCIA, GCIH, CSSP Incident Responder, CEH, SANS GIAC GCIA, or GNFA; GNFA is noted as preferred for network forensics.
SANS GRID, GICSP, or GCIP certification.
Vendor or network certifications, including Cisco CCNA or higher (such as 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 forensics and monitoring capabilities as part of a technology insertion team.
Assist the Government lead in coordinating preliminary incident response investigations and onsite or remote engagements.
Interface with customers onsite and communicate incident status, findings, and recommendations clearly.
Characterize and analyze network traffic, including PCAP, flow data, and device logs, to identify anomalous activity and threats.
Analyze network metadata, including 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 response.
Assess network topologies and device configurations, identify security concerns, and recommend security best practices, especially for Cisco, Ivanti, Palo Alto, Ciena, and Juniper platforms.
Determine appropriate responses to 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.
Lead analysis of logs, configurations, and telemetry from routers, switches, firewalls, VPNs, and remote access appliances to identify, scope, and reconstruct intrusions.
Provide technical analysis, research, direction, and alternatives for complex network-centric incidents, working with broad direction and considerable latitude.
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 containment and eradication missions for internal stakeholders, both onsite and remotely.
Preserve evidence integrity when collecting network data, device artifacts, and logs, in accordance with standard operating procedures or national standards.
Assist in writing and publishing Computer Network Defense guidance and detailed incident reports.
Produce 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 guides for hunt and incident response activities.