Security Operations Center (SOC) Analyst Tier 1

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Monitor SIEM, EDR, IDS/IPS, firewall, email security, and other security tool consoles in real time for events that may point to an incident.
• Perform initial triage of alerts using established playbooks and SOPs, and determine whether each is a false positive, benign activity, or a potential incident.
• Escalate validated or suspected incidents to Tier 2 analysts and incident response staff on time, with supporting evidence attached.
• Create, update, and close tickets in the case management system, with clear and accurate documentation of actions taken.
• Review user-reported phishing emails and suspicious activity reports, and perform basic analysis of headers, URLs, and attachments.
• Conduct basic research on indicators of compromise (IPs, domains, file hashes) using threat intelligence sources and reputation tools.
• Identify potential threats and respond to reported security violations under the direction of senior SOC staff.
• Help determine the causes of security events, and recommend improvements to monitoring rules and procedures.
• Track the status of open investigations and contribute to shift turnover reports, daily summaries, and metrics reporting.
• Follow incident handling, data handling, and chain-of-custody procedures in line with customer policy and NIST SP 800-61 guidance.
• Assist in educating users on security procedures and report suspicious trends to SOC leadership.
• Maintain awareness of current threats, vulnerabilities, and attacker techniques relevant to the customer environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 0 to 2 years of experience in IT, security operations, network operations, or a related technical field (internships, labs, and military experience count).
• A DoD 8140/8570-compliant baseline certification at IAT Level II or higher (such as CompTIA Security+ CE), or the ability to obtain one within 6 months of hire.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.