Cybersecurity Firewall Support Specialist

Spektrum supports apex purchasers (NATO UN EU and National Government and Defence) and their Tier 1 supplier ecosystem with a wide range of specialist services. We provide our clients with professional services specialised aerospace and defence sales delivery and operational subject matter expertise. We are looking for personnel to join our team and support key client projects.

Who we are supporting

The NATO Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) is responsible for providing secure and effective communications and information technology (IT) services to NATOs member countries and its partners. The agency was established in 2012 and is headquartered in Brussels Belgium.

The NCIA provides a wide range of services including:

• Cyber Security: The NCIA provides advanced cybersecurity solutions to protect NATOs communication networks and information systems against cyber threats.
• Command and Control Systems: The NCIA develops and maintains the systems used by NATOs military commanders to plan and execute operations.
• Satellite Communications: The NCIA provides satellite communications services to enable secure and reliable communications between NATO forces.
• Electronic Warfare: The NCIA provides electronic warfare services to support NATOs mission to detect deny and defeat threats to its communication networks.
• Information Management: The NCIA manages NATOs information technology infrastructure including its databases applications and servers.

Overall the NCIA plays a critical role in ensuring the security and effectiveness of NATOs communication and information technology capabilities.

The program

Assistance and Advisory Service (AAS)

The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) is NATOs principal C3 capability deliverer and CIS service provider. It provides maintains and defends the NATO enterprisewide information technology infrastructure to enable Allies to consult together under Article IV and when required stand together in the face of attack under Article V.

To provide these critical services in the modern evolving dynamic environment the NCI Agency needs to build and maintain high performanceengaged workforce. The NCI Agency workforce strategically consists of three major categorises: NATO International Civilians (NIC)s Military (Mil) and Interim Workforce Consultants (IWC)s. The IWCs are a critical part of the overall NCI Agency workforce and make up approximately 15 percent of the total workforce.

Role Background

The NATO Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is a team of over 200 members working to monitor and protect NATO networks. In the NCSCs role to deliver robust security services to the NATO Enterprise and NATO Allied Operations and Missions (AOM) the centre executes a portfolio of programmes and projects around 219 MEUR euros per year in order to uplift and enhance critical cyber security services.

In order to execute this service the NCI Agency is seeking additional manpower through contracted resources to support the work undertaken by the NATO Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the area of Communications and Information System (CIS) security cyber defence and cyberspace operations.

The Gateway Security Services (GSS) Section facilitates and accounts for all lifecycle aspects of Boundary Protection Components deployed within and on the edge of NATO networks in order to protect key NATO information while allowing NATO staff to work securely and processtheir information. NCI Agency is looking for subject matter expertise for the delivery of this complex and critical cybersecurity capability.

Role Duties and Responsibilities

• Build implement maintain and support NextGeneration Firewalls (NGFW) (System Administration).
• Configure maintain and review security policies on NextGeneration Firewalls (System Configuration)

Deliverables:

D01 Central system administration of NGFWs to ensure continuing functionality and availability.

• Support the team by routinely reviewing the tickets queue to ensure 4 hours response time for normal events and 1 hour response time for high/critical events
• Provide multichannel support (phone email internal chat)
• Develop and maintain a repository of scrips to automate recurring systems administration activities.
• Ensure correct logging and log forwarding configurations to support availability of system events in central log database.
• Provide proactive system administration and maintenance to prevent system failures
• Escalate critical events to appropriate channels within 4 hours
• Support system upgrading/patching during established maintenance windows

D02. Central configuration of NGFWs

• Support the team by routinely reviewing the tickets queue to ensure 4 hours response time for normal events and 1 hour response time for high/critical events
• Provide multichannel support (phone email internal chat)
• Update the configuration of firewall rules/policies based on changing requirements.

D03. Documentation of Firewall systems

• Development of SOPs and other documentation for repetitive activities
• Produce and maintain comprehensive documentation for all implemented systems
• Review and update security documentation

D04 . ITSM Support of Firewall systems

• Technical support in troubleshooting infrastructure and operational issues
• Collaborate with other teams for a successful resolution;
• Provide technical support and guidance by answering enduser requests to identify issues in secure crossdomain data exchange
• Provide support to NATO staff users and collaborate with other admin staff to resolve tickets related to firewall configurations and policies
• Create/update entries on ticket activities

Essential Skills and Experience

• Official firewall certification (such as PCNSA)
• Official Network Management certification (such as Network)
• Official Service Management certification (such as ITIL Foundation)
• 2 years of experience in IT security with a focus on Security Tools Management in large organisations.
• Strong understanding of security best practices
• Good engineering skills including programming
• Demonstrable experience of analysing and interpreting system security and application logs in order to diagnose faults and spot abnormal behaviours.
• More than 2 years of experience in the following areas:
  • Palo Alto Networks Firewalls and Palo Alto Networks Panorama for Enterprise level deployments
  • Firewall installation and management of other vendors
  • Scripting/Automation (Bash Python Ansible)
  • System monitoring and troubleshooting
  • Experience with network protocols and traffic analysis
  • Ability to troubleshoot complex network security issues
  • LAN/WAN networking including protocol network architecture
  • TCP/IP protocols and services
• Profound communication abilities both written and verbal with the ability to clearly and successfully articulate complex issues to a variety of audiences and teams

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Understanding of Information Security Practices; relating to the Confidentiality Integrity and Availability of information (CIA triad.
• Possession of Industry leading certification in the area of Cybersecurity such as CISSP CISM CISA GSNA SANS GIAC
• In addition to the above it is desirable for the contracted individual to have working experience and knowledge in the following areas:
• Experience in working with NATO.
• Experience of working with NATO Communications and Information Agency.
• Experience of working with national Defence or Government entities.
• Previous work in an international environment comprising both military and civilian elements.

Education

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Technology or related field or equivalent experience.

Working Location

• Mons Belgium

Working Policy

• OnSite

Travel

• Some travel to other NATO sites may be required

Security Clearance

• Valid National or NATO Top Secret personal security clearance