Specialist: Cybersecurity Analyst - Midrand at Nexio

ROLE PURPOSE

• As part of the Customer-facing Nexio SOC team, the Specialist: Cybersecurity Analyst plays a critical role in monitoring, detecting, and responding to cybersecurity incidents within a Security Operations Center. The Cybersecurity Analyst utilizes incident handling methodologies to validate security events, assess severity levels, and provide guidance to SOC Analysts. By leveraging threat intelligence and conducting in-depth analysis, Cybersecurity Analyst identifies the scope of attacks, impacted systems, and potential perpetrators. The Cybersecurity Analyst ensures shift-related metrics are monitored, offers recommendations, and advises on containment and recovery steps. The Cybersecurity Analyst documents incidents, updates relevant documentation and supports the development of analytic methods for threat detection.
• He/She should ideally have advanced security incident handling analysis experience in an established SOC environment and contribute to risk management, lead Blue Team exercises, mentor junior analysts, and develop playbooks for incident scenarios. The Cybersecurity Analyst monitors network traffic, investigates incidents, and collaborates with the SOC team to respond to threats or intrusions.

ROLE REQUIREMENT

• Is familiar with the tactical and long-term vision across the Cyber Security function.
• Adheres to the standard operating procedure and playbooks in the SOC.
• Impacts on Customer satisfaction and confidence in the SOC Service and service level performance.
• Provides security incident handling and technical guidance to SOC Teams.
• Gives regular, comprehensive, and constructive feedback, and coaching and mentoring to the team.
• Mentor junior analysts to enhance their effectiveness in their roles.
• Delegates work to team members taking into account their capacity, level of skill, and exposure to different types of work and complexity; provides clear instructions and direction, with reasonable deadlines.
• Validate and declare security incidents based on incident handling methodologies.
• Confirm severity levels (S0 to S4) using SLA severity classification.
• Provide guidance and support to SOC Analysts during incident response.
• Utilize threat intelligence, updated rules, and IOCs to identify affected systems and the extent of attacks.
• Conduct in-depth threat intelligence analysis to uncover attack types, data/systems impacted, and potential perpetrators.
• Monitor shift-related metrics and gather applicable reporting for the SOC Team Lead and SOC Manager.
• Make recommendations to SOC Team Lead and SOC Manager regarding additional analysis and required remediation.
• Determine the impact on critical systems or data sets and advise on remediation steps.
• Validate false positives, policy violations, intrusion attempts, security threats, and potential compromises.
• Suggest containment and recovery steps based on analysis findings.
• Document workload and output from each shift for service performance measurement.
• Formally document learnings and update relevant documentation such as shift logs and tickets.
• Provide support for analytic methods to detect threats and conduct further triage based on defined run books.
• Consolidate data through alert triage, providing necessary context before escalating to Operations and Security Engineering Teams for deeper analysis.
• Manage security events, incidents, and service requests via the ticketing systems.
• Identify alarms by intent and method, including reconnaissance, system compromises, and ingested log sources:
  • Firewalls and network devices
  • Infrastructure server and end-user systems
  • Threat intelligence platforms
  • Cloud and hybrid-IT provisioning, access, and infrastructure systems (Amazon Web Services)
  • Antivirus systems
  • Intrusion detection and prevention systems
  • Similar in Scope source systems
• Apply the MITRE ATT&CK framework for anomaly analysis and conduct additional analysis using correlation rules and SIEM alerts.
• Validate and update initial tickets in the SIEM platform and Service Desk.
• Monitor event queues, investigate potential incidents, and escalate or close events as necessary.
• Validate investigation results and pass relevant details to the SOC Team Lead.
• Assess security controls based on cybersecurity principles and frameworks (e.g., CIS CSC, NIST SP 800-53).
• Analyze network traffic, characterize threats, and coordinate with cyber defense staff for validation.
• Document and escalate incidents, perform trend analysis, and report findings.
• Review security architecture, identify gaps, and recommend risk mitigation strategies.
• Plan and recommend modifications based on exercise results or system environment.
• Perform daily summary reports of network events and activity relevant to cyber defense practices.
• Provide timely detection, identification, and alerting of possible attacks, intrusions, and anomalous activities.
• Utilize cyber defense tools for monitoring and analyzing system activity, identifying and analyzing malicious behavior.
• Conduct analysis of network traffic, including network mapping, OS fingerprinting, and identification of compromised credentials.
• Assist in the development of signatures for cyber defense tools.
• Notify stakeholders of suspected cyber incidents, articulate event details, and follow the organization's incident response plan.
• Analyze and report on organizational and system security posture trends.
• Assess access controls and monitor external data sources for emerging threats.
• Provide cybersecurity recommendations to leadership and collaborate on incident resolution and vulnerability compliance.
• Support the development of disaster recovery, contingency, and continuity plans.

Additional Information:

• Individuals at this level have fully developed knowledge of best practices in security incident handling in an established SOC.
• Able to build strong interpersonal relationships with the SOC team and customer stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills and communication of complex information to non-technical stakeholders.
• Confident in producing and presenting work.
• In-depth understanding of security incident analysis and incident handling practices, Strong knowledge of networking protocols, operating systems, and security architecture in an established SOC.
• Proficiency in security tools such as SIEM, IDS/IPS, EDR, and network analyzers.

TECHNICAL / PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES

• Adhere to operational processes in the NIST CSF, CIS CSC, NIST SP 800-53, and MITRE ATT&CK framework
• Proficient in advanced incident triage methodologies and techniques to identify and investigate potential security threats and apply playbooks.
• Prior experience to advise, plan, deploy, configure, manage, and monitoring large-scale and complex cyber defence and IT risk management and information or cybersecurity solutions.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Grade 12
• One or more of these industry Cybersecurity Certifications: GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH), Certified Computer Security Incident Handler (CSIH), CEH, OSCP, CompTIA, Microsoft Security Certifications
• Minimum of four (4) years of work experience, and three (3) years of relevant experience in an established SOC and information security/cybersecurity
• Ability to partake in exercises, develop playbooks, and automate processes.
• Experience with a ticketing system such as BMC Remedy.
• Basic Linux and Windows Server experience.
• Experience working with cloud environments (Microsoft Azure and Sentinel) is desirable.
• Analytical, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills.
• Strong communication and collaboration abilities with various stakeholders.
• Experience with securing various environments preferred.
• Experience in working across security frameworks and technologies.

LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS

• Strategic Vision: Develop and articulate a strategic vision for the organization's incident triage capabilities.
• Decision-Making: Assess complex situations, prioritize actions based on severity levels (S0 to S4), and make sound judgments.
• Collaboration and Influence: Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Strategic Partnerships: Build and maintain strategic partnerships with external organizations.
• Mentorship and Development: Mentor and develop junior analysts, fostering a culture of learning.
• Change Management: Lead and manage change within the cybersecurity organization.
• Ethical Leadership: Maintain integrity, professionalism, and promote ethical behavior.
• Crisis Management: Effectively respond to and manage cybersecurity incidents.
• Responsive to Requests: Responsiveness to reasonable customer, supplier, and management requests.
• Attention to Detail: Pay attention to detail and ensure deliverables undergo quality reviews.
• Proactive and Reliable: Be proactive, innovative, and demonstrate reliability.
• Customer-Centric Approach: Put the customer first and go the extra mile in the company's best interest.
• High-Performance Team Player: Positively contribute to the high-performance team and develop positive relationships.
• Emotional Intelligence and Integrity: Demonstrate emotional intelligence and act with integrity.
• Teamwork and Collaboration: Work well with others and maintain a high-performance team ethic.
• Excellent Communication Skills: Be an excellent communicator and collaborator.
• Willingness to Learn: Be open to learning a range of security technologies and platforms.
• Positive Attitude: Maintain a positive attitude in the face of challenges.