IT Security Operations Analyst

ABOUT THE ROLE

Virginia Tax is seeking a Security Analyst with 3+ years of experience to join the Office of Technology to investigate unusual activity to protect agency systems and data, and help strengthen the agency’s security posture.


The successful candidate will monitor Splunk (SIEM) and other security tools, user and system actions, and audit logs for security incidents involving unusual and unauthorized activities and provide incident response. In addition, this position will prioritize and triage security events based on severity, potential impact, and risk factors, and document all security events and investigations thoroughly and accurately along with implementing remediation actions for findings. And lastly, develop and implement automation solutions to improve efficiency and accuracy of security operations.
 

Responsibilities include but not limited to:

· Continuously monitor security events and alerts from Splunk (SIEM), IDS/IPS, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and other security tools.

· Prioritize and triage security events based on severity, potential impact, and risk factors.

· Investigate suspicious activity to determine the root cause and potential threat.

· Document all security events and investigations thoroughly and accurately.

· Stay abreast of emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and attack trends relevant to the Virginia Tax’s environment.

· Proactively hunt for threats using advanced techniques and analysis tools.

· Analyze identified threats to determine their potential impact and advise on mitigation strategies.

· Participate in incident response activities as part of the designated incident response team.

· Assist with containment, eradication, and recovery efforts as directed.

· Analyze incident data and provide insights to support the investigation and remediation process.

· Document and report all incident response activities for future reference.

· Generate regular reports on security trends, threats, and vulnerabilities.

· Present findings and recommendations to management.

· Configure and maintain security tools and automation scripts to optimize alert generation and response efforts.

· Develop and implement new automation solutions to improve efficiency and accuracy of security operations.

· Maintain effective communication with office of technology teams, security leadership, and business users.

· Effectively collaborate with other SOC analysts and team members to ensure coordinated responses.

· Security event analysis, threat intelligence, and Incident response reports, and security trend reports and recommendations

· Documentation of security tooling and automation configurations

· Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Respond (MTTR)

· Number and severity of security incidents identified and mitigated

· Effectiveness and efficiency of security tools and automation

Required Skills/Experience:

· Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Cybersecurity, industry security certifications, or a related field or equivalent experience.

· Minimum 3 years of experience as a Security Operations Analyst or similar role.

· Strong understanding of security concepts, network protocols, and threat vectors.

· Proficiency in SIEM, IDS/IPS, EDR, and other relevant security tools.

· Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.

· Strong communication, collaboration, and documentation