Penetration Tester

tharros; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Tharros is seeking a highly skilled Penetration Tester to assess threats, identify vulnerabilities, and develop mitigations across enterprise networks and systems. This role involves evaluating policies, configurations, and security controls within a government-style cyber environment.

The candidate will perform authorized testing, create audit reports, and support risk assessments. A Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility is required, along with substantial experience in cyber defense

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field; 8–12 years of penetration testing experience.
• Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility is required.
• Strong knowledge of networks, protocols and risk management.
• Understanding cryptography, key management and IT security concepts.

Responsibilities

• Analyze cyber defense policies and configurations for compliance with regulations.
• Assess software vulnerabilities and develop exploit approaches.
• Develop exploits focusing on non-interference with mission partner systems.
• Perform authorized penetration testing on enterprise network assets.
• Maintain deployable cyber defense audit toolkit and related software/hardware.
• Prepare audit reports with findings and remediation suggestions.
• Review environment components for security effectiveness (TSCM, TEMPEST).
• Conduct risk/vulnerability assessments across networks, enclaves, and apps.
• Recommend cost-effective security controls to reduce risk.

Skills

Penetration testing

Threat modeling

Vulnerability assessment

Risk assessment

Network security

Cryptography

OS hardening

Education

Bachelor's degree in related field

Tools

Wireshark

nmap

tcpdump

Job description

Are you a problem solver? Do you like complex, challenging puzzles? This position involves a blending of several disciplines to include, but not limited, penetration testing, reverse engineering, and code/script development. In this role, you will apply your talents to reverse engineer executables to identify flaws and create and operationally test exploits to take advantage of an identified vulnerability or zero days.

The Air Combat Command's 67th Cyberspace Wing (67 CW), 346th Cyber Test and Evaluation Squadron (346 CTES), executes, and contributes as both an operational and participating test organization in a full array of operational tests of various cyber weapons in coordination with the 318 Range Squadron (318RANS) who provides instrumented cyber range services, through both physical hardware and virtual systems.

Tharros is seeking a Penetration Tester (PT) to conduct assessments of threats and vulnerabilities; determine deviations from acceptable configurations, enterprise, or local policy; assess risk levels; and recommend/develop appropriate mitigation countermeasures in operational and nonoperational situations. The PT also performs assessments of systems and networks within the network environment or enclave and identifies where they deviate from acceptable configurations, enclave policy, or local policy and measures effectiveness of defense-in-depth architecture against known vulnerabilities.

Responsibilities include:

• Analyze organization's cyber defense policies and configurations and evaluate compliance with regulations and organizational directives
• Analyze software applications to gain an understanding of the system, mission and or application vulnerabilities and exploits
• Develop exploits for exposed vulnerabilities with a focus on non-interference of mission partner systems and networks
• Conduct and/or support authorized penetration testing on enterprise network assets
• Maintain deployable cyber defense audit toolkit (e.g., specialized cyber defense software and hardware) to support cyber defense audit missions
• Maintain knowledge of applicable cyber defense policies, regulations, and compliance documents specifically related to cyber defense auditing
• Prepare audit reports that identify technical and procedural findings and provide recommended remediation strategies/solutions
• Conduct required reviews as appropriate within environment (e.g., Technical Surveillance, Countermeasure Reviews [TSCM], TEMPEST countermeasure reviews)
• Perform technical (evaluation of technology) and nontechnical (evaluation of people and operations) risk and vulnerability assessments of relevant technology focus areas (e.g., local computing environment, network and infrastructure, enclave boundary, supporting infrastructure, and applications)
• Make recommendations regarding the selection of cost-effective security controls to mitigate risk (e.g., protection of information, systems and processes)
• Position requires travel up to 25% supporting customer assessments up to 1-4 weeks in duration.

Requirements:

• Current Top Secret clearance with SCI eligibility.
• Bachelor's degree in a related field and a minimum of 8-12 years of experience providing related penetration testing services.
• Experience with computer networking concepts and protocols, and network security methodologies.
• Understanding risk management processes (e.g., methods for assessing and mitigating risk), laws, regulations, policies, and ethics as they relate to cybersecurity and privacy, cybersecurity and privacy principles, cyber threats and vulnerabilities, specific operational impacts of cybersecurity lapses and application vulnerabilities.
• Knowledge of cryptography and cryptographic key management concepts, data backup and recovery, host/network access control mechanisms (e.g., access control list, capabilities lists).
• Knowledge of cybersecurity and privacy principles and organizational requirements (relevant to confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation).
• Knowledge of network access, identity, and access management (e.g., public key infrastructure, Oauth, OpenID, SAML, SPML), how traffic flows across the network (e.g., Transmission Control Protocol [TCP] and Internet Protocol [IP], Open System Interconnection Model [OSI], Information Technology Infrastructure Library, current version [ITIL]).
• Knowledge of programming language structures and logic, system and application security threats and vulnerabilities (e.g., buffer overflow, mobile code, cross-site scripting, Procedural Language/Structured Query Language [PL/SQL] and injections, race conditions, covert channel, replay, return-oriented attacks, malicious code).
• Knowledge of systems diagnostic tools and fault identification techniques and what constitutes a network attack and a network attack’s relationship to both threats and vulnerabilities.
• Knowledge of interpreted and compiled computer languages, different classes of attacks (e.g., passive, active, insider, close-in, distribution attacks).
• Knowledge of cyber attackers (e.g., script kiddies, insider threat, non-nation state sponsored, and nation sponsored), system administration, network, and operating system hardening techniques
• Knowledge of cyber-attack stages (e.g., reconnaissance, scanning, enumeration, gaining access, escalation of privileges, maintaining access, network exploitation, covering tracks).
• Knowledge of network security architecture concepts including topology, protocols, components, and principles (e.g., application of defense-in-depth), security models (e.g., Bell-LaPadula model, Biba integrity model, Clark-Wilson integrity model).
• Knowledge of ethical hacking principles and techniques and data backup and restoration concepts, system administration concepts for operating systems such as but not limited to Unix/Linux, IOS, Android, and Windows operating systems and infrastructure supporting information technology (IT) for safety, performance, and reliability.
• Knowledge of an organization's information classification program and procedures for information compromise, packet-level analysis using appropriate tools (e.g., Wireshark, tcpdump).
• Knowledge of cryptology, network protocols such as TCP/IP, Dynamic Host Configuration, Domain Name System (DNS), and directory services.
• Knowledge of penetration testing principles, tools, and techniques and an organization’s threat environment.
• Knowledge of Application Security Risks (e.g. Open Web Application Security Project Top 10 list).
• Skill in conducting vulnerability scans and recognizing vulnerabilities in security systems and assessing the robustness of security systems and designs.
• Detecting host and network-based intrusions via intrusion detection technologies (e.g., Snort).
• Experience in mimicking threat behaviors, the use of penetration testing tools and techniques and the use of social engineering techniques. (e.g., phishing, baiting, tailgating, etc.).
• Network analysis tools to identify vulnerabilities. (e.g., fuzzing, nmap, etc.), reviewing logs to identify evidence of past intrusions and conducting application vulnerability assessments.
• Perform impact/risk assessments and develop insights about the context of an organization’s threat environment.
• Experience with cybersecurity and privacy principles to organizational requirements (relevant to confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation) and the ability to identify systemic security issues based on the analysis of vulnerability and configuration data.
• Programming language structures (e.g., source code review) and logic and the ability to share meaningful insights about the context of an organization’s threat environment that improve its risk management posture.
• Understanding cybersecurity and privacy principles to organizational requirements (relevant to confidentiality, integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation).