Job Summary

Battelle is seeking a Junior Network Security Researcher for our Cyber Business Line. The position location is our Chantilly, VA office. Travel to the Pentagon, Columbus OH, and/or other Customer locations may be necessary based on program or customer needs. This position reports to the Division Manager, Cyber Solutions Division (CSD). This position is contingent upon contract award/funding.

A Junior Network Security Researcher at Battelle is knowledgeable on infrastructure and operation of transmission of data across the Internet and local networks. Network Security Researchers are experts in the OSI model and have knowledge of encryption. This job is right if you have a passion for understanding how machines talk to one another through packet inspection, troubleshooting anomalous network behavior, and designing solutions with a project team.

At Battelle, a Junior Network Security Researcher position is not only knowledgeable in their technical field but continues to build upon that knowledge becoming a resource for colleagues will less experience and lead small projects.

Battelle is a not-for-profit 501c3, which means that we invest in our employees and ideas. We fund internal research and development ideas, we have paid training budgets, and we have snacks and coffee. Our work environment is t-shirt/jeans, and flexible hours.

Responsibilities

• As part of a project team, implement architectures to simulate and/or emulate portions of various network architectures in a lab based environment for troubleshooting and root cause analysis of misconfigurations and anomalous behaviors.
• Support analysis and result validation of the detection techniques and mitigations of anomalous behaviors.
• Research techniques used by Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) that would enable movement through, Command and Control (C2) of, and data exfiltration on a targeted network.
• Assist in determining which adversarial techniques network security controls and policies would block.
• Support simulating remaining techniques in a lab and collect data to help develop detection approaches.
• Research emerging trends in networking technology such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV).
• Design and develop experiments to analyze the potential impacts these technologies would have on networks and document the results.
• Assist in the development of APT detection approaches using rule-based and Machine Learning (ML) methodologies.
• Provide informal technical briefings on testing or experimental results to team members.

Key Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in related field with 2 years of experience or master’s degree in related field; or an equivalent combination of education and or experience in a related field.
• Active TOP SECRET (TS) Clearance; must be Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) eligible.
• Hands on experience with designing and implementing network designs with Cisco, Juniper, and Palo-Alto equipment.
• Familiarity with APT techniques.
• Understanding of networking and security concepts (e.g., TCP/IP stack, routing, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems).
• Familiarity with IP networking concepts (e.g., Quality of Service) and virtual private networks.
• Ability to capture and analyze large amounts of network traffic.
• Bachelor of Science in Computer Science degree or a related field and networking experience.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts to teammates.
• Must be sole US Citizen.
• Travel may be a frequent as two weeks every two months.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Linux, Microsoft Windows desktop and Server, as well as virtualization environments like VMware ESXi/vSphere.
• Hands on experience with packet capture utilities like tcpdump and WireShark as well as Network Intrusion Detection (NIDs) like Snort, Suricata, and Zeek.
• Familiarity with Python 3.x and Python libraries for machine learning such as TensorFlow and Keras.
• Familiarity with C11 and C++ 11 or later
• Experience with behavioral models like MITRE’s ATT&CK, Lockheed Martin’s “Cyber Kill Chain” that describe Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) tactics and techniques.