Principal Threat Researcher (Unit 42)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.

We have the vision of a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Job Description

Your Career

As a Principal Threat Intelligence Analyst within the Unit 42 Threat Intelligence team, you will bring expert knowledge of cyber threats across various domains such as cyber-crime, nation-state, and cloud, to name a few. You will be responsible for staying current on global threats to multiple industries and identifying emerging trends in threat data to address requests for intelligence and complete priority research gaps in support of the Proactive Services organization. You will document and communicate these findings in multiple formats to ensure threat intelligence data influences other areas inside and outside Unit 42. You will be a clear self-starter who understands how to complete high-level tasking and uses your technical knowledge and skills to meet goals and deadlines. In addition to day-to-day research efforts, you will shine in quick turnaround research efforts to support high-visibility, world-on-fire major cyber events. Consistent collaboration with other researchers and teams will be necessary for your success in this role. 

Your Impact

• Demonstrate expertise in collecting and analyzing threat intelligence data across all categories of cyber threats

• Document and communicate emerging threats, trends, and their potential impact 

• Translate threat intelligence collection into a format tailored to our customer needs

• Be able to communicate an adversary’s actions based on attack frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK

• Conduct pivot analysis using both closed and open-source datasets across the entire threat landscape

• Be able to conduct quick-turnaround threat analysis and feedback support for urgent requests for intelligence

• Clearly communicate and deliver threat intelligence knowledge in verbal and written formats to technical and non-technical audiences

• Enhance knowledge of cyber threats to multiple stakeholders during major cyber events in written and verbal formats

• Demonstrate thought leadership across Unit 42 by bringing new threat research to the table

• Foster strong collaboration with key stakeholders across different functional teams

Qualifications

Your Experience

• 8+ years experience in threat intelligence focused on a variety of threats including but not limited to ransomware, nation-state, cyber-crime, supply-chain/3rd party risks, cloud, mobile, dark web, offensive security, and insider threats

• Expert understanding of the adversary’s attack lifecycle, TTPs, and high-fidelity indicators of compromise

• Experience with tools for data analysis, such as passive DNS, network infrastructure analysis, and host-based information analysis

• Knowledge of scripting languages to facilitate data collection and analysis

• Proven communicator and collaborator with all levels of the organization

• Strong verbal and written communication skills

• Clear ability to lead tasks/projects independently and provide recommendations for process improvement

• Proven record as a problem solver in complex and often ambiguous situations

• Drive to overcome the most challenging obstacles and look for ways to improve results

• Ability to understand and assimilate different points of view, manage time, and prioritize work based on project needs and deadlines

• Ability to adapt to changes in a growing team

Helpful Additional Experience

• Ability to interpret and action internal and external reports

• Ability to conduct research on the dark web with appropriate levels of OpSec

• Has served as a mentor or team lead

• Experienced public speaker at large industry conferences

• Awareness of AP Style writing guidelines

• Comfortable working within a remote team

Additional Information

The Team

Unit 42 brings together our world-renowned threat researchers with an elite team of security consultants to create an intelligence-driven, response-ready organization. The Unit 42 Threat Intelligence team provides threat research that enables security teams to understand adver