Vulnerability Analyst

Title: Cyber Risk Analyst

W-2 Only (no 1099)

Must be a U.S. Citizen

Companys Location: Lemont IL

Job Description

Background:
Companys Cyber Security Program Office (CSPO) promotes the safe and secure use of technology. The CSPO serves Company by providing a variety of cybersecurity services including consultation protection technologies detection technologies cybersecurity education and awareness cybersecurity incident management vulnerability management compliance and cybersecurity risk management.

The Cyber Security Program Office is seeking a full-time Vulnerability Analyst.

Contract Position: Full Time 40 hour work week

Period of Performance: 1 Year

Scope:
This is an opportunity for a Vulnerability Analyst within the Cyber Security Program Office (CSPO). The Vulnerability Analyst will play an important role to identify assess prioritize report and assist others in mitigating vulnerabilities within an organizations information systems. This engagement will free up other cybersecurity resources to work in other critical Company areas.

• Possess a working level expertise with the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and the NIST 800-53 series of control families and approaches.
• Using automated tools and manual techniques to Client security weaknesses (i.e. Tenable Security Center Nucleus Security etc...)
• Conducting regular scans and assessments of systems applications and networks to identify potential vulnerabilities.
• Analyzing the identified vulnerabilities to determine their potential impact on the organization.
• Prioritizing vulnerabilities based on their severity and the risk they pose to the organization.
• Performing routine assignment of tickets to IT and other teams to address vulnerabilities as part of a cyber hygiene process.
• Recommending mitigation strategies to address identified vulnerabilities.
• Working with IT and development teams to apply patches configure systems securely and implement other remediation measures. This position is not expected to perform patching activities.
• Creating detailed reports on the findings of vulnerability assessments and risk analyses.
• Documenting the status of vulnerabilities and the actions taken to mitigate them.
• Communicating the results of vulnerability assessments risk analyses and other cyber hygiene work to stakeholders including management and technical teams.
• Staying up to date with the latest cybersecurity threats vulnerabilities and best practices.
• Continuously improving the organizations vulnerability management processes and tools.
• Attend online/Teams meetings with team and others as appropriate
• Work with team to provide status on current task suggest improvements discuss implementation etc.

Objectives:
The ideal candidate will support the projects and tasks associated with Vulnerability Management Program

Technical Direction of Work:
Report to the Lead Cybersecurity Engineer within the Cyber Security Program Office (CSPO); including daily guidance and collaboration with others in the Cyber Security Program Office (CSPO).

Task and Time Reporting:
The project managers measure work performed by the contractor on a task basis. The tasks typically represent 8 to 80 hours of effort with performance being measured at the completion of each of the assigned tasks. Hours will be recorded on a weekly time sheet; progress against planned tasks will be reported weekly.

Typically the work is performed remotely. For the candidate within driving distance of the Lab there may be rare times to be onsite for in-person meetings assessments or presentations. Most of the Business Information Services (BIS) Division works remotely and are rarely onsite. If the candidate is out of state too far away from the Lab onsite meetings are not feasible to attend and not required.

Management and Remediation Plan:

• Collaborate with IT and system administrators to create a patch management policy.
• Provide a prioritization of vulnerabilities for remediation based on risk assessment.
• Run Hygiene Improvement Process (HIP) vulnerability tasks (e.g. generating prioritized list of systems or vulnerabilities to remediate creating and assigning tickets follow-up on tickets enforcing mitigation requirements reporting).
• Develop a schedule aligned with existing policy for applying patches and updates to systems and applications.
• Monitor the effectiveness of patching efforts and adjust the plan as needed.
• Provide bi-weekly monthly and quarterly reports of vulnerability and patching efforts to various stakeholders.

Cloud Container and DevSecOps

• Cloud posture and vulnerabilities:
• Implement CSPM/agent-based scanning for IaaS/PaaS; cover images VMs serverless and managed services.
• Ensure tagging/ownership standards in cloud for routing remediation.
• Containers and Images:
• Scan images in registries and at build time; block critical vulns from promotion.
• Application Dependencies:
• Introduce SCA for third-party libraries; integrate auto-dependency updates.
• Add SAST/DAST where applicable; tune to reduce false positives.
• IaC hygiene:
• Scan Terraform/CloudFormation/Kubernetes manifests; enforce guardrails in CI.

Expectation/Deliverables:

• Assisting and guiding business units with their vulnerability remediation as well as technical debt cleanup.
• Create and update Vulnerability risk acceptance/modification review/analysis and approval/non-approval
• Document entire workflow of current system in current state and future state
• Provide opportunities for automation within current and future state processes (i.e. python bash etc.)
• Assist in vulnerability tool review/tuning

Qualifications:
Technical Skills:
Vulnerability Assessment Tools:

• Proficiency in using vulnerability scanning tools such as Tenable Nessus Qualys OpenVAS and Nexpose.
• Familiarity with penetration testing tools like Metasploit Burp Suite and Nmap.

Operating Systems:

• Strong knowledge of various operating systems including Windows Linux and macOS.
• Understanding of system administration and security configurations.

Networking:

• In-depth understanding of network protocols architecture and security.
• Experience with network scanning and monitoring tools.

Scripting and Programming:

• Ability to write scripts in languages such as Python Bash or PowerShell to automate tasks and analyze data.
• Basic programming skills to understand and analyze code for vulnerabilities.

Security Frameworks and Standards:

• Familiarity with cybersecurity frameworks and standards such as NIST ISO 27001 CIS Controls and OWASP.
• Understanding of the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and NIST 800-53 controls.

Certifications (Optional):

• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP):
• Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH):
• CompTIA Security :
• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM):
• Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP):
• GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC):

Experience:

• Practical experience in conducting vulnerability assessments and/or penetration tests.
• Experience in system and network administration.
• Familiarity with security concerns and vulnerabilities common in an enterprise environment including application development IT/OT environments virtualization containers etc.
• Staying up to date with the latest cybersecurity threats vulnerabilities and best practices.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to identify and assess vulnerabilities.
• Meticulous attention to detail to ensure thorough assessments and accurate reporting.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills to effectively convey findings and recommendations to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work collaboratively with other cybersecurity professionals IT staff and external vendors.
• Considerable knowledge/experience of assessing security controls.
• Experience and skill in conducting audits or reviews of technical systems.
• Experience working in a government environment.
• Experience working in a distributed IT environment.
• Ability to obtain HSPD-12 card for use in two-factor authentication.
• Able to work both independently and as a contributing member of a small technical team
• Able to disseminate knowledge to current staff.

Government-Furnished Property:

• Companys will supply a government-furnished laptop PIV Card and PIV Card reader.

Computer Protection Program:
The contractor shall adhere to all policies and procedures of the ANL Computer Protection Program must not bypass any procedures established to protect data applications hardware or communications at ANL must maintain a work environment that will satisfy audit privacy and protection requirements and must report any findings of inadequacies to the technical contact and the BIS Computer Protection Program Representative.

The following expectations are part of working remote:

• Working remotely outside of scheduled times requires supervisor approval prior to performing that remote work.
• While working remotely just like when onsite all scheduled meetings must be attended (using approved remote communication tools).
• The candidate must be available for consultation during all scheduled work time reachable by email phone chat or other approved means.
• Performance will be monitored to determine productivity for remote work at least matches that when onsite. If performance and deliverables decline remote work may be suspended.
• Should a situation arise that requires the candidate to be onsite while scheduled to work remotely accommodation will be made to reschedule the remote work if desired.
• The remote work privilege may be revoked at any time at the discretion of Companys.
• A flexible work schedule may also be possible if the schedule is agreed to by the candidate and approved by the supervisor and sponsor.
• Should the laboratory close operations due to weather or other circumstances remote work is preferred.
• Lastly the candidate must track their remote work schedule into the CSPO absence calendar and be approved by CSPO supervisor.

Place of Performance :
Work will be performed remotely (within the confines of the United States of America) and team communication will be done through Microsoft tools such as Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook

Period of Performance:
Work would begin October 2025 for 40 hours per week for 1 year.