Principal Vulnerability Researcher (Unit 42)

Company Description

Our Mission

At Palo Alto Networks® everything starts and ends with our mission:

Being the cybersecurity partner of choice, protecting our digital way of life.

We have the vision of a world where each day is safer and more secure than the one before. These aren’t easy goals to accomplish – but we’re not here for easy. We’re here for better. We are a company built on the foundation of challenging and disrupting the way things are done, and we’re looking for innovators who are as committed to shaping the future of cybersecurity as we are.

Disruption is at the core of our technology and on our way of work to meet the needs of our employees now and in the future through FLEXWORK, our approach to how we work. We’re changing the nature of work from benefits to learning, location to leadership, we’ve rethought and recreated every aspect of the employee experience at Palo Alto Networks. And because it FLEXes around each individual employee based on their individual choices, employees are empowered to push boundaries and help us all evolve, together.

Job Description

Your Career

As a Principal Vulnerability Researcher, you will play a crucial role in our mission to secure our customer base against the latest cybersecurity threats. Your primary focus will be on identifying vulnerability usage within our clients' environments, researching potential exploitation methods, and developing strategies for mitigation. Additionally, you will contribute to our thought leadership by writing insightful blogs on the most current vulnerabilities released publicly, raising awareness and educating our clients and the wider community about how to protect themselves from emerging vulnerabilities. This role will serve as a subject matter expert for Unit 42 for in the wild exploitation. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct in-depth research into vulnerabilities and understand their potential impact on our customer base.

• Analyze and evaluate systems, networks, and applications for weaknesses that could be exploited by attackers.

• Analyze proof-of-concept exploits for identified vulnerabilities to assess the risk level and validate mitigation strategies.

• Ability to Hunt for vulnerabilities across multiple external and internal telemetry datasets. Help in the identification and analysis of potential abuse of the vulnerabilities

• Collaborate with the product teams to recommend and implement effective countermeasures and security enhancements.

• Stay abreast of the latest cybersecurity trends, threat intelligence, and vulnerability disclosures to ensure our defenses are always a step ahead.

• Write compelling and informative blog posts on recent vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques, and best practices for cybersecurity, contributing to the community's knowledge base.

• Participate in cybersecurity conferences and forums, representing Palo Alto Networks and sharing insights from your research.

• Perform customer notification of identified exploitation as identified.

• Enrich threat intelligence related to vulnerabilities in our central threat knowledge repository.

• Write public threat briefings related to new and impactful vulnerabilities exploited in the wild.

• Respond to internal and external requests for information (RFI) related to vulnerabilities.

Qualifications

• (Optional, but a plus) Experience with Vertex Synapse

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Security, or a related field. A Master's degree or higher is a plus.

• Proven experience in vulnerability research, threat hunting, security analysis, or a similar role within the cybersecurity domain.

• Strong understanding of network protocols, operating systems, and application security principles.

• Proficiency in programming and scripting languages such as Python.

• Familiarity with penetration testing tools and techniques.

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with a keen eye for detail with a focus on vulnerability analysis. 

• Ability to communicate complex security concepts clearly and persuasively, both verbally and in writing.

• A passion for cybersecurity and a commitment to staying informed about the latest developments in the field.

• Excellent written and verbal communication. 

• Experience presenting to C-level executives.

Additional Information

Our Commitment

We’re trailblazers that dream big, take risks, and challenge cybersecurity’s status quo. It’s simple: we can’t accomplish our mission without diverse teams innovating, together.

Palo Alto Networks is evolving and changing the nature of work to meet the needs of our employees now and in the future through FLEXWORK, our approach to how we work. From benefits to learning, location to leadership, we’ve rethought and recreated every aspect of the employee experience at Palo Alto Networks. And because it FLEXes around each individual employee based on their individual choices, employees are empowered to push boundaries and help us all evolve, together.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with a disability. If you require assistance or accommodation due to a disability or special need, please contact us at accommodations@paloaltonetworks.com.

Is role eligible for Immigration Sponsorship?: No. Please note that we will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.