Intern - Security Researcher (PhD)

Palo Alto Networks; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 28,000 - 41,000; Part time

Job summary

RippleMatch Inc. seeks an Intern - Security Researcher (PhD) to join the Cloud-Delivered Security Services team. You will help develop security content, build automation for real-time data processing, and support malware detection and prevention.

You will work with senior researchers to analyze threats, apply ML/GenAI techniques, and contribute to proactive security protections. Requires pursuing a 2-year Master’s or PhD and US work authorization.

Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a 2-year Master’s degree or Doctorate in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, with a planned return to school post-internship.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States.
• Available for a May or June 2027 start date.
• Experience with ML/GenAI techniques and tools (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-Learn).
• Basic understanding of malware types and common vulnerabilities.

Responsibilities

• Develop an understanding of next-generation firewalls and their application in modern network security.
• Build and enhance automation systems for data collection and real-time processing to support threat analysis.
• Apply AI/ML techniques to analyze live network traffic for threat detection and mitigation.
• Research and propose effective network security countermeasures against cyber-attack vectors.
• Collaborate with senior researchers to analyze adversarial tactics and contribute to proactive protections.

Skills

Python

Go

ML/GenAI

NLP

Threat analysis

Education

Master’s/PhD in CS/EE

Tools

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Scikit-Learn

Job description

Intern - Security Researcher (PhD)

The Team

Internships - Our internship program provides a 1:1 mentorship, fun and engaging events that inspire your intellectual curiosity, opportunities to expand your knowledge and work on challenging projects, and connections to other interns, recent grads, and employees across the company as well as our leaders.

Job Summary

We are looking for a passionate and self-driven Security Researcher Intern to join our Cloud-Delivered Security Services team. As a Security Researcher you will play a critical role in developing and refining security content that powers our next-generation products. You’ll work on building and optimizing automation systems to gather and process real-time data, supporting the detection and prevention of malware and other digital threats. Collaborating with experienced security researchers, you’ll analyze emerging threats and contribute to robust security solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop an understanding of next-generation firewalls and their application in modern network security.
• Build and enhance automation systems for efficient data collection and real-time processing to support threat analysis.
• Apply AI/ML techniques to analyze live network traffic for the detection, analysis, and mitigation of emerging security threats.
• Research and propose effective network security countermeasures to identify and neutralize various cyber-attack vectors.
• Proactively collaborate with senior security researchers to analyze adversarial tactics and contribute to the implementation of proactive security protections.

Required Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a 2-year Master’s degree or Doctorate in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field, with a planned return to school post-internship.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States.
• Available for a May or June 2027 start date.
• Experience with ML/GenAI techniques (e.g., anomaly detection, deep learning, NLP) and tools (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-Learn).
• Basic understanding of malware types (e.g., Spyware, Ransomware, Exploits) and common vulnerabilities (e.g., command injection, buffer overflow).
• Familiarity with key network protocols such as HTTP, SMTP, and FTP.
• Proficiency in at least one programming language, such as Python or Go.

Preferred Qualifications

• Currently pursuing a Doctorate (PhD) degree.
• Exposure to malware analysis and participation in Capture-the-Flag (CTF) exercises.
• Hands-on experience with traffic analysis tools (e.g., Wireshark, tcpdump) or reverse engineering tools.