Posted today
Unspecified
Entry Level (less than 2 yrs experience)
Unspecified
Unspecified
IT - Security
Fort George G Meade, MD (On-Site/Office)
As a Cybersecurity Testing Specialist, you will apply your cybersecurity expertise to perform formal assessments mimicking real-world attacks to identify methods for circumventing security features of applications, systems, and networks. This fact-based testing, leveraging cutting-edge methodologies, will give you the unique opportunity to identify flaws and vulnerabilities in system design and influence remediations. As a Cybersecurity Testing Specialist, you will optimize and influence improvements to the protection of national security interests as part of the world's most advanced team of cybersecurity professionals.
Please attach a copy of your transcripts from all schools attended when applying for this position. Providing a copy of your transcripts is especially critical since the minimum qualifications for this position require a degree that demonstrates a concentration of Computer Science (CS) courses in foundational CS areas.
Cybersecurity testers at NSA play a vital role in the security of NSA's mission by conducting both security controls and adversarial testing against our state-of-the-art Information Technology (IT) systems executing NSA's SIGINT and Cybersecurity missions. NSA is advancing technology to deliver mission outcomes. As such, Cybersecurity testers have the opportunity to work across a broad set of technologies including commercial cloud fabrics, artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and advanced cryptographic systems. These personnel are involved in both developmental and operational testing so NSA systems can be protected from the most sophisticated nation state adversaries. Some examples of tasks include:
- Conducting security controls testing of NSA systems to ensure controls are properly implemented by system owner(s)
- Conducting testing against cloud fabrics, including various security configuration options of cloud services and a wide variety of different security configurations
- Assessing the effectiveness of security solutions against cybersecurity frameworks (e.g. MITRE Attack Framework)
- Operating within teams focused on implementing and evolving cybersecurity testing procedures and implementing automation to reduce testing time and improve consistent analysis
- Operating within a cybersecurity team for each of the life cycle steps of the Federal Government's Risk Management Framework (RMF), as maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST 800-53)
- Implementing automation across the cybersecurity testing processes
Depending on their education, training, and experience, Cybersecurity testers are hired into positions as a Testing and Evaluation Specialist and placed into functional positions performing cybersecurity testing functions commensurate with their skills. Entry-level cybersecurity professionals will take on the front-line control testing of our systems while beginning to learn the intricacies of secure system design. The most experienced testing personnel will have opportunities to formulate unconstrained cybersecurity testing to emulate cybersecurity adversary and rogue system administrator threats.
Please attach a copy of your transcripts from all schools attended when applying for this position. Providing a copy of your transcripts is especially critical since the minimum qualifications for this position require a degree that demonstrates a concentration of Computer Science (CS) courses in foundational CS areas.
The qualifications listed are the minimum acceptable to be considered for the position.
Degree must be in Computer Science (CS) or related field (e.g., Engineering, Mathematics). Degrees in Information Technology, Information Systems, Information Security, Networking (Systems Administration), Information Assurance, and Cybersecurity may be considered relevant if the programs contain, at minimum, a concentration of courses in the following foundational CS areas: algorithms; computer architecture (not network architecture); programming methodologies and languages; data structures; logic and computation; and upper-level mathematics.
Relevant experience must be in engineering of computer or information systems over their lifecycle (i.e., requirements analysis, design, development, implementation, testing, integration, deployment/installation, and maintenance), programming, vulnerability analysis, penetration testing, computer forensics, and/or systems engineering. Completion of military training in a relevant area such as JCAC (Joint Cyber Analysis course) will be considered towards the relevant experience requirement (i.e., 24-week JCAC course will count as 6 months of experience).
ENTRY/DEVELOPMENTAL
Entry is with a Bachelor's degree and no experience. An Associate's degree plus 2 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position.
FULL PERFORMANCE
Entry is with a Bachelor's degree plus 3 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus 1 year of relevant experience or a Doctoral degree and no experience. An Associate's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position.
Skills:
We're looking for someone with knowledge, skills, and experience in one or more of the following:
- Cloud Security Knowledge for commercial cloud environments such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Oracle or Google cloud environments
- Knowledge of or experience with penetration testing or ethical hacking methodologies
- Knowledge of network attacks based on MITRE Attack Framework
- Familiarity with exploitation techniques and frameworks (network firewalls, intrusion detection systems, networks)
- Familiarity with various exploitation frameworks (e.g. Metasploit)
- Understanding of shell scripting for the development of network attack tools and techniques (e.g. Python, Perl, or Ruby)
- Knowledge of vulnerability identification, mitigations, and countermeasures
- Understanding of network protocols
- Knowledge of Windows / Linux network programming
- Knowledge of network architecture, network and IT infrastructure devices, physical and virtual
- Understanding of tools (nmap, nessus, dsniff, libnet, netcat, network sniffers) and techniques (e.g. fuzzing)
- Understanding of threat modeling and development of test scenarios
- Critical thinking and ability to break large complex problems into manageable parts
Experience and knowledge of computer security tools, vulnerability analysis, systems architecture, systems engineering, test and evaluation tradecraft, and software engineering is helpful. Working knowledge of automation tools and Linux is helpful.
The ideal candidate is someone with a desire for experiential learning and strong problem-solving, analytic and interpersonal skills who is:
- willing to take the initiative
- innovative
- able to work effectively across several different functional areas in a collaborative environment
- able to communicate effectively (both orally and written)
- well-organized and able to handle multiple assignments.
Please attach a copy of your transcripts from all schools attended when applying for this position. Providing a copy of your transcripts is especially critical since the minimum qualifications for this position require a degree that demonstrates a concentration of Computer Science (CS) courses in foundational CS areas.
Cybersecurity testers at NSA play a vital role in the security of NSA's mission by conducting both security controls and adversarial testing against our state-of-the-art Information Technology (IT) systems executing NSA's SIGINT and Cybersecurity missions. NSA is advancing technology to deliver mission outcomes. As such, Cybersecurity testers have the opportunity to work across a broad set of technologies including commercial cloud fabrics, artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and advanced cryptographic systems. These personnel are involved in both developmental and operational testing so NSA systems can be protected from the most sophisticated nation state adversaries. Some examples of tasks include:
- Conducting security controls testing of NSA systems to ensure controls are properly implemented by system owner(s)
- Conducting testing against cloud fabrics, including various security configuration options of cloud services and a wide variety of different security configurations
- Assessing the effectiveness of security solutions against cybersecurity frameworks (e.g. MITRE Attack Framework)
- Operating within teams focused on implementing and evolving cybersecurity testing procedures and implementing automation to reduce testing time and improve consistent analysis
- Operating within a cybersecurity team for each of the life cycle steps of the Federal Government's Risk Management Framework (RMF), as maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST 800-53)
- Implementing automation across the cybersecurity testing processes
Depending on their education, training, and experience, Cybersecurity testers are hired into positions as a Testing and Evaluation Specialist and placed into functional positions performing cybersecurity testing functions commensurate with their skills. Entry-level cybersecurity professionals will take on the front-line control testing of our systems while beginning to learn the intricacies of secure system design. The most experienced testing personnel will have opportunities to formulate unconstrained cybersecurity testing to emulate cybersecurity adversary and rogue system administrator threats.
Please attach a copy of your transcripts from all schools attended when applying for this position. Providing a copy of your transcripts is especially critical since the minimum qualifications for this position require a degree that demonstrates a concentration of Computer Science (CS) courses in foundational CS areas.
The qualifications listed are the minimum acceptable to be considered for the position.
Degree must be in Computer Science (CS) or related field (e.g., Engineering, Mathematics). Degrees in Information Technology, Information Systems, Information Security, Networking (Systems Administration), Information Assurance, and Cybersecurity may be considered relevant if the programs contain, at minimum, a concentration of courses in the following foundational CS areas: algorithms; computer architecture (not network architecture); programming methodologies and languages; data structures; logic and computation; and upper-level mathematics.
Relevant experience must be in engineering of computer or information systems over their lifecycle (i.e., requirements analysis, design, development, implementation, testing, integration, deployment/installation, and maintenance), programming, vulnerability analysis, penetration testing, computer forensics, and/or systems engineering. Completion of military training in a relevant area such as JCAC (Joint Cyber Analysis course) will be considered towards the relevant experience requirement (i.e., 24-week JCAC course will count as 6 months of experience).
ENTRY/DEVELOPMENTAL
Entry is with a Bachelor's degree and no experience. An Associate's degree plus 2 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position.
FULL PERFORMANCE
Entry is with a Bachelor's degree plus 3 years of relevant experience or a Master's degree plus 1 year of relevant experience or a Doctoral degree and no experience. An Associate's degree plus 5 years of relevant experience may be considered for individuals with in-depth experience that is clearly related to the position.
Skills:
We're looking for someone with knowledge, skills, and experience in one or more of the following:
- Cloud Security Knowledge for commercial cloud environments such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Oracle or Google cloud environments
- Knowledge of or experience with penetration testing or ethical hacking methodologies
- Knowledge of network attacks based on MITRE Attack Framework
- Familiarity with exploitation techniques and frameworks (network firewalls, intrusion detection systems, networks)
- Familiarity with various exploitation frameworks (e.g. Metasploit)
- Understanding of shell scripting for the development of network attack tools and techniques (e.g. Python, Perl, or Ruby)
- Knowledge of vulnerability identification, mitigations, and countermeasures
- Understanding of network protocols
- Knowledge of Windows / Linux network programming
- Knowledge of network architecture, network and IT infrastructure devices, physical and virtual
- Understanding of tools (nmap, nessus, dsniff, libnet, netcat, network sniffers) and techniques (e.g. fuzzing)
- Understanding of threat modeling and development of test scenarios
- Critical thinking and ability to break large complex problems into manageable parts
Experience and knowledge of computer security tools, vulnerability analysis, systems architecture, systems engineering, test and evaluation tradecraft, and software engineering is helpful. Working knowledge of automation tools and Linux is helpful.
The ideal candidate is someone with a desire for experiential learning and strong problem-solving, analytic and interpersonal skills who is:
- willing to take the initiative
- innovative
- able to work effectively across several different functional areas in a collaborative environment
- able to communicate effectively (both orally and written)
- well-organized and able to handle multiple assignments.
group id: 10470536
