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About Us
We are the leader in human-centric cybersecurity. Half a million customers, including 87 of the Fortune 100, rely on Proofpoint to protect their organizations. We’re driven by a mission to stay ahead of bad actors and safeguard the digital world. Join us in our pursuit to defend data and protect people.
How We Work
At Proofpoint, you’ll be part of a global team that breaks barriers to redefine cybersecurity, guided by our BRAVE core values: Bold in how we dream and innovate, Responsive to feedback, challenges, and opportunities, Accountable for results and best-in-class outcomes, Visionary in future-focused problem-solving, Exceptional in execution and impact.
Corporate Overview
Proofpoint is a leading cybersecurity company protecting organizations’ greatest assets and biggest risks: vulnerabilities in people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber-attacks.
Staff Security Research Engineer
Your day-to-day
* Design and develop software using a variety of languages, primarily Python, with little external guidance, while providing technical leadership to guide other software engineers on the team
* Some skill in modifying existing web-based UI for internal tools is needed to maintain and extend the sandbox submission and report UI for Proofpoint threat researchers to use
* Some work requires skill in writing C or C++ for low-level interactions with the OS
* Develop and maintain web browser interaction capabilities using Chrome web driver
* Analyze and Reverse Engineer JavaScript that fingerprints web browser artifacts to identify sandbox web browsers or instrumentation, and innovate solutions to defeat those checks
* Familiarity with analyzing web front-end and the Document Object Model (DOM)
* Develop and maintain software for processing network traffic, including TLS decryption and processing PCAP files
* Work closely with threat analysts and detection engineers who research threat actors and write detection rules which run on the systems you develop
* As needed, create new detection languages and systems that allow threat researchers to develop detection rules
* Add features to existing threat detection languages to allow greater flexibility by threat researchers to automate interactions with websites and detect threat patterns
* Make use of AI Large Language Models as appropriate to enhance threat detection pipelines, produce samples to test evasion countermeasures, and make sound decisions about when applying AI is a benefit vs. a detriment to achieving goals
* Design and develop automation pipelines to turn manual tasks into automated scripts
* Stay abreast of a constantly evolving threat landscape
* Understand the latest tactics, techniques, and procedures used by threat actors to bypass detection environments, especially URL sandbox fingerprinting / detection / evasion techniques used by threat actors
* As needed, provide expert assistance and support to threat researchers and analysts as they analyze phishing websites, threat detection evasion techniques, and security research or red team demonstrations of new evasion techniques
* As needed to support sandbox countermeasure development, reverse engineering malware executable files for Windows
* Apply critical thinking skills to identify the most efficient and effective way to mitigate threats and evasions
* Work effectively as part of a remote team using chat, video chat, and conference calls
* Work with other engineering teams, defining requirements, for continuous improvement of critical detection capabilities
What You Bring To The Team
As a Security Research Engineer on Proofpoint’s Threat Research team, you’ll be part of an amazing, collaborative, industry-leading team focused on tracking threat actors, malware, phishing, and TTPs and responding to the quickly changing threat landscape with innovative software that detects and prevents threats from reaching Proofpoint customers.
Requirements
* A passion for threat research and a well-rounded yet deep understanding of the security threat landscape and actor TTPs
* Ability to write production-grade, reliable Python code with instrumentation that supports observability and monitoring of performance and errors
* Experience developing software using Docker containers
* Experience developing web browser automation
* Experience analyzing network traffic for threat detection and a solid understanding of TLS, HTTP, and other network protocols used by malware
* Willing and able to work independently and collaboratively as part of a distributed team of industry-leading security researchers
Nice to Have
* Experience with C and C++
* Experience developing Windows API hooks and knowing how to research undocumented Windows API internal functions
* Experience writing malware behavior signatures
* Some experience analyzing malware using a debugger, and willingness to learn
* Experience with statically reverse engineering malware using IDA Pro, Ghidra, Binary Ninja, or other reverse engineering tools
* Ability to accurately interpret the forensic output of dynamic analysis (sandbox) environments
* Experience with a variety of publicly-available malware sandboxes
Additional Information
* Travel 1% - 10% (flexible) mainly for team collaboration or security conferences
* Location: Remote (Canada, US, Argentina, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland)
* Must be able to work during business hours local to your time-zone
Why Proofpoint
As a customer-focused and driven-to-win organization with leading-edge products, there are many exciting reasons to join the Proofpoint team. We believe in hiring the best and brightest and cultivating a culture of collaboration and appreciation.
Benefits
* Competitive compensation
* Comprehensive benefits
* Learning & Development
* Flexible work environment
* Annual wellness and community outreach days
* Always-on recognition for your contributions
* Global collaboration and networking opportunities
Our Culture
Our culture is rooted in values that inspire belonging, empower purpose, and drive success - every day, for everyone. We encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Proofpoint is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.
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