Principal Threat Researcher (Data Platform)

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.
Our vision is 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.

Who We Are

We take our mission of protecting the digital way of life seriously. We are relentless in protecting our customers and we believe that the unique ideas of every member of our team contributes to our collective success. Our values were crowdsourced by employees and are brought to life through each of us everyday - from disruptive innovation and collaboration, to execution. From showing up for each other with integrity to creating an environment where we all feel included.

As a member of our team, you will be shaping the future of cybersecurity. We work fast, value ongoing learning, and we respect each employee as a unique individual. Knowing we all have different needs, our development and personal wellbeing programs are designed to give you choice in how you are supported. This includes our FLEXBenefits wellbeing spending account with over 1,000 eligible items selected by employees, our mental and financial health resources, and our personalized learning opportunities - just to name a few!

At Palo Alto Networks, we believe in the power of collaboration and value in-person interactions. This is why our employees generally work full time from our office with flexibility offered where needed. This setup fosters casual conversations, problem-solving, and trusted relationships. Our goal is to create an environment where we all win with precision.

Job Description

Your Career

We are seeking a threat researcher to join our data platform team. The selected candidate will join a team of industry-leading cloud threat researchers detecting novel and emerging threat actors and groups targeting cloud environments. The candidate must have experience in threat hunting, intelligence gathering, or cloud application or platform penetration testing skills. Fundamentally, they must have a passion for cloud architecture, cloud posture management, cloud runtime monitoring, and cloud detection engineering.

Your Impact

As a Data Platform Threat Researcher, your deep understanding of the threat landscape, combined with your proven expertise in cybersecurity research, will be critical in identifying, investigating, and neutralizing APTs and cybercrime activities. You will leverage your extensive experience in forensic analysis and incident response, utilizing both dynamic and static tools, to meticulously uncover attack vectors, propagation methods, and data exfiltration techniques.

You will play a pivotal role in evolving our threat intelligence by

• Developing novel threat hunting methodologies and contributing to our knowledge base through impactful technical blog posts and analysis reports
• Using your insights into APT operations and familiarity with organizational cybersecurity measures to directly inform our protective strategies and remediation efforts
• Simplify and clarify complex technical information to enable effective collaboration and enhance our overall security posture
• Significantly contribute to strengthening our data platform defenses and ensuring the integrity and security of our critical assets

Qualifications

Your Experience 

• Knowledge and understanding of the threat landscape, including attack tools, tactics, and techniques, as well as networking and security fundamentals
• Experience investigating targeted, sophisticated, or hidden threats in both endpoints and networks
• 8+ years of relevant experience with a proven track record in cybersecurity research, specializing in either APTs or cybercrime, but with the ability to address the broader threat landscape
• Background in forensic analysis and incident response tools (both Dynamic and Static, such as IDA Pro, Ollydbg, and Wireshark) to identify threats and assess the extent and scope of compromises
• Understanding of APT operations, including attack vectors, propagation, data exfiltration, lateral movement, persistence mechanisms, and more
• Familiarity with organizational cybersecurity measures, including protective tools and remediation techniques
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
• Strong attention to detail
• Knowledge of advanced threat hunting methodologies and the ability to develop novel techniques
• Experience in an Incident Response environment is a plus
• Proficiency i