Cyber Forensics Analyst

About the position

Leidos is seeking an experienced Cyber Forensics Analyst to join our team. As a member of this highly technical digital forensics team supporting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), you will be responsible for in-depth cyber forensics, root cause analyses, spillage investigations, and ensuring chain of custody during incident investigations in support of the protection of the customers' systems, networks, and assets. The candidate will provide support to CBP OIT's Cyber Defense Forensics (CDF) team in support of insider threat and security operations according to established policies, handbooks, and CBP CDF Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). This support includes monitoring activities, conducting threat analysis, investigating policy violations, identifying mitigation and/or remediation courses of action, and assessing risk posed by trusted insiders. The main focus of this task is to work with the OIT Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools to process incidents, investigate spillages of multiple types of classified and/or controlled data, conduct root cause analyses into suspicious or malicious activity, and assist with SOC Incidents / OPR investigations as needed. The responsibilities also include providing recommendations for Information Spillage Incident Response efforts on handling and sanitization methods pursuant to industry best practices, NIST 800-88 recommendations, and Federal guidelines. The analyst will conduct enterprise and system(s) endpoint analysis (e.g., Windows, Linux, Mac, Cloud, and mobile systems) and network-based digital forensic analysis. Formal digital forensic investigations will be conducted, and findings will be documented in formal, forensically sound investigation reports. The role also involves performing email hygiene activities in support of CBP investigations and supporting enterprise recovery efforts to ensure that security events and incidents are properly remediated prior to restitution. Utilizing state-of-the-art forensic tools (FTK/Encase, etc.), the analyst will perform computer, mobile phone forensics, and memory analysis (volatility, rekall) in support of incident response. Additionally, the analyst will conduct reverse engineering of suspicious files utilizing dynamic, automated, and static analysis, properly preserve evidence, maintain chain of custody, and write malware analysis or forensic reports. Recognizing attacker and APT activity, tactics, and procedures as indicators of compromise (IOCs) will be crucial for improving monitoring, analysis, and incident response. The analyst will also install, secure, maintain, and recommend forensic software and hardware within a Forensic Lab environment while following established configuration management processes. Developing and building security content, scripts, tools, or methods to enhance forensic processes will be part of the role, along with effectively investigating and identifying root cause findings and communicating these findings to stakeholders including technical staff and leadership. Finally, the analyst will develop and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and playbooks as deemed necessary.

Responsibilities

• Provide support to CBP OIT's Cyber Defense Forensics (CDF) team in support of insider threat and security operations according to established policies, handbooks, and CBP CDF Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Monitor activities, conduct threat analysis, investigate policy violations, identify mitigation and/or remediation courses of action, and assess risk posed by trusted insiders.
• Work with the OIT Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools to process incidents and investigate spillages of classified and/or controlled data.
• Conduct root cause analyses into suspicious or malicious activity and assist with SOC Incidents / OPR investigations as needed.
• Provide recommendations for Information Spillage Incident Response efforts on handling and sanitization methods.
• Conduct enterprise and system(s) endpoint analysis (e.g., Windows, Linux, Mac, Cloud, and mobile systems) and network-based digital forensic analysis.
• Conduct formal digital forensic investigations and document findings in formal, forensically sound investigation reports.
• Perform email hygiene activities in support of CBP investigations.
• Support enterprise recovery efforts to ensure that security events and incidents are properly remediated prior to restitution.
• Utilize state-of-the-art forensic tools (FTK/Encase, etc.) to perform computer, mobile phone forensics, and memory analysis (volatility, rekall).
• Conduct reverse engineering of suspicious files utilizing dynamic, automated, and static analysis.
• Properly preserve evidence, maintain chain of custody, and write malware analysis or forensic reports.
• Recognize attacker and APT activity, tactics, and procedures as indicators of compromise (IOCs).
• Install, secure, maintain, and recommend forensic software and hardware within a Forensic Lab environment.
• Develop and build security content, scripts, tools, or methods to enhance forensic processes.
• Effectively investigate and identify root cause findings and communicate findings to stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and playbooks as deemed necessary.

Requirements

• Requires BS degree and 4-8 or more years of direct relevant experience.
• Degree in computer science, IT, Information/Cyber Security field from an accredited college or university.
• Flexible and adaptable self-starter with strong relationship-building skills.
• Effective communication skills with emphasis on attention to detail, ability to accurately capture and document technical remediation details, and ability to brief stakeholders on incident statuses, recovery and root causes.
• Demonstrable experience performing forensic analysis, digital media analysis, and in-depth system & network log analysis in support of forensic investigations.
• Ability to generate forensically sound cyber analysis reports detailing forensically sound analysis procedures, findings, and recommendations from incident investigations.
• Strong problem-solving abilities with an analytic and qualitative eye for reasoning under pressure.
• Ability to independently prioritize and complete multiple tasks with little to no supervision.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience performing computer forensics in Federal Government, DOD or Law Enforcement environments.
• Ability to script in one or more of the following computer languages: Python, Bash, Visual Basic or PowerShell.
• Knowledge of the Cyber Kill Chain and MITRE ATT&CK framework.
• Advanced understanding of multiple Operating Systems, monitoring and detection techniques and methods, and Incident Response Lifecycle.
• Prior experience with CBP/DHS.
• Between 2-3 years of experience in two or more of these specialized areas: Insider Threat, Digital media forensic, Monitoring and detection, Incident Response.