Internals

Information Security Engineer

  • Hourly Rate: 18.25
  • Summer Commitment: Preferred

Position Overview

The Information Security Engineer (ISE), under the guidance of the Lead Information Security Engineer and the supervision of the Chief Security Officer of Student Affairs - Information Technologies, is responsible for enforcing Residential Computing's Appropriate Use Policy as well as for all security-related activities in Student Affairs. In support of UC Berkeley's mission of teaching, research, and public service, the ISE strives to provide students living in the residence halls with uninterrupted access to network resources on campus and around the world. The ISE is responsible for heading, investigating, and concluding security incidents that have occurred within the residence hall network and Student Affairs systems - for example: identifying vulnerable resident and administrative computers, enforcing bandwidth policy, and investigating intrusion attempts to departmentally managed hosts. The ISE also conducts security audits on Student Affairs servers and gives recommendations to improve the security posture of the department. This includes researching new outbreaks. ISE is also responsible for assisting the CSO with postmortem analysis of staff computers to check for data loss and analysis of attack vectors. The ISE is the liaison between network security staff on campus and at other institutions and the students in the residence halls. The ISE communicates regularly with staff of Systems and Network Security (SNS), updates them on active security cases, and aids them in constructing new security policies to reflect changing security trends. Moreover, the ISE is responsible for educating residence hall students and Residential Computing staff about computer and network security. The ISE is also responsible for helping design and produce the Be Secure software package, which is distributed to residents to help them meet the Campus Minimum Security Standards.

Qualifications

Required: knowledge of TCP/IP networking; experience in securing Windows XP/Vista/7 computers (security updates, account management, ACL); working knowledge of *NIX; ability to prioritize tasks and handle emergency situations (including nights and weekends); effective oral and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with a diverse group of people; ability to work productively in teams; attention to detail; minimum GPA of 2.0.

Preferred: experience with Macintosh OS, scripting experience (shell, Python, NSIS); knowledge of security tools (nmap, nessus, snort); *NIX system administration experience (firewalls, logging, patching); technical knowledge of residence hall network; experience writing documentation, giving presentations and teaching workshops; friendly and approachable, GPA of 2.3 or higher.

Terms of Employment

  1. The period of employment for this position commences upon hire and continues through the end of the 2012-2013 academic year.
  2. The ISE is paid a wage of $18.25 per hour. The position's classification title is Assistant III. The ISE must be a currently enrolled UC Berkeley student with a minimum GPA of 2.0 (2.3 or higher preferred). Students with less than a 2.3 may be asked to limit their work hours.
  3. The ISE will participate in a required training program during the Spring 2012 semester, including a mandatory orientation on Friday, April 6th, 2012.
  4. The ISE must participate in staff training during the week of August 6th, 2012.
  5. The ISE is required to work 12-15 hours per week during the academic year. A work schedule will be determined in consultation with the Chief Security Officer of Student Affairs IT.
  6. This position is subject to a criminal background check. Driving is preferred. If driving, a DMV check for valid driver's license and driving record is required (anyone who works at University Village in Albany must drive the departmental vehicle). Position meets the following criteria:
    • Possession of key or card access to computer storage areas.
      • Control over campus-wide or departmental business processes, either through functional roles or systems security access, including responsibility for development or maintenance of critical business systems.
    • Operation of University vehicles as part of assigned job duties.
    • Specific job duties: Requires access to both on and off site computer equipment storage as well as access to business databases. Driving is preferred to get to various units and locations.
  7. It is a requirement that anyone in this position work in a safe and responsible manner while not putting him/herself or others at risk. This includes complying with applicable policies and regulations; using personal safety gear; observing warning signs; learning about potential hazards; and reporting unsafe conditions.
  8. Employment with the Information Technologies unit is subject to the applicant's ability to provide appropriate documentation and sign necessary papers for employment in conformance with state laws and University regulations.
  9. Continued employment is contingent upon satisfactory job performance evaluation by the Lead Information Security Engineer and the CSO.

Job Duties

(30%) Resolve Network Security Incidents

  • Respond promptly to reported security violations received from students and from other campus departments and organizations outside the University.
  • Investigate validity of resident reports (check appropriate logs, request further information).
  • Follow up with involved residents regarding the cause of the incident (assess resident's awareness of the situation, clearly communicate Residential Computing security policies regardless of the student's response). Conduct audits and collect evidence on resident's machines when necessary.
  • Document and update security incidents with in-house incident tracking system. Communicate case status and findings to the security mailing list and the organization forwarding the complaint (using discretion to maintain confidentiality).
  • Assist other teams in developing tools and procedures related to network access control and monitoring.
  • Work with other Residential Computing teams in developing tools and procedures to monitor internal and public networks for suspicious activity.
  • Enforce the Residential Computing bandwidth policy and respond to staff and resident inquiries about it.

(25%) Systems and Network Security Enforcement

  • Respond to threats reported against Student Affairs servers by following up with appropriate teams and auditing system logs, when necessary.
  • Plan and conduct periodic security and configuration audits on Student Affairs IT managed hosts.
  • Help establish policies regarding restricted data, enforcing security compliance, and implementing best practices to consolidate restricted data in a secure manner.
  • Regularly analyze egress traffic from Student Affairs IT managed hosts using network intrusion detection tools.
  • Work collaboratively with SysAdmins and Programmers to enforce security baselines and expectations.
  • Enforce departmental security policy on Student Affairs IT managed hosts in close conjunction with the Desktop Consultant and Desktop Administrator teams.
  • Regularly scan Student Affairs IT hosts and analyze results to provide administrators steps to secure machines.

(10%) Administrative Duties

  • Keep CalAgenda updated regularly.
  • Ensure that all ISE projects are documented (ongoing status reports and a summary report).
  • Meet with Lead ISE weekly with status reports. .
  • Check email daily.

(15%) Proactive Residential Security

  • Identify and notify residents of vulnerable computers when necessary.
  • Develop and implement regular network scanning procedures to identify compromised computers.
  • Assist in development of security policies and practices.
  • Investigate suspicious network activity (bandwidth spikes, DHCP problems).

(15%) Security Awareness & Education

  • Educate residence hall students on the importance of computer security.
  • Assist with RCC training.
  • Assist in training Residential Computing staff on computer security issues.
  • Issue Residential Computing security bulletins as necessary through collaboration with the Marketing team.
  • Design and produce the Be Secure software package (including scripting its installation).
  • Aid in educating Student Affairs employees in topics related to computing security.

(5%) Ongoing Training

  • Read security mailing lists and websites (Secunia, Security Focus, unisog@sans.org, ucb-security, micronet) in order to keep up-to-date with the latest security issues.
  • Investigate new security tools and technologies that may be suitable for deployment.

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