IT Specialist (Security)

Applicants must have demonstrated experience as listed below. This requirement is according to the AO Classification, Compensation, and Recruitment Systems which include interpretive guidance and reference to the OPM Operating Manual for Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions. Specialized Experience: Applicants must have at least one full year (52 weeks) of specialized experience which is in or directly related to the line of work of this position. Specialized experience is demonstrated experience must demonstrate ALL areas defined below: Conducting advanced static and dynamic malware analysis to identify malicious functionality, persistence mechanisms, execution flow, command-and-control behavior, and attacker tradecraft across enterprise systems. Reverse engineering and analyzing malicious code, scripts, memory artifacts, and suspicious binaries to support incident response, forensic investigations, detection development, and threat attribution activities. Analyzing structured and unstructured data sources, including logs from enterprise and custom applications, to detect, investigate, and support response to suspicious or malicious activity. Desired, but Not Required: Applicants who possess one or more of the following information technology certifications are highly desired: Offensive Security Exploit Developer (OSED); Offensive Security Exploit Expert (OSEE); GIAC Reverse Engineering Malware (GREM); and GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester (GXPN). This position is in the Department of the Chief Information Office, Information Technology Security Office (ITSO), Security Operations Division. ITSO manages the Judiciary's IT security program, oversees the security operations of Judiciary IT assets and environments, proposes national IT security policies and develops guidelines for their implementation, and establishes and maintains collaborative relationships within the Judiciary and with third-party partners.

• The IT Specialist (Security) serves as a Malware Analyst within the Security Operations Center (SOC). In this role, the incumbent performs advanced analysis of malicious software to determine functionality, execution behavior, persistence mechanisms, and attacker intent. The incumbent provides authoritative technical assessments that inform incident containment, remediation, and recovery efforts and contributes to high-confidence threat actor attribution by identifying unique tools, techniques, and behavioral patterns. Key Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Performing advanced static and dynamic analysis of complex malware, including binaries and scripts, to determine functionality, behavior, and malicious intent. Reverse engineering malicious executables, installers, and payloads to identify execution flow, persistence mechanisms, and embedded capabilities. Analyzing malware activity within enterprise and proprietary Judiciary systems to assess operational impact and risk. Examining command-and-control (C2) communications, including protocols, encryption methods, obfuscation, and evasion techniques. Identifying, validating, and documenting indicators of compromise (IOCs) derived from reverse engineering and behavioral analysis. Performing sandboxing and instrumented runtime analysis to observe malware execution and system interactions. Correlating malware artifacts with endpoint telemetry, network traffic, and log data to determine scope of compromise and attacker activity. Supporting forensic examinations of compromised systems to confirm malware presence, persistence, and post-exploitation behavior. Providing expert technical guidance to incident responders on attacker capabilities, risks, and recommended containment and mitigation strategies. Producing detailed technical reports and concise summaries that translate complex malware findings into actionable intelligence. Monitoring and analyzing emerging malware families, tools, and techniques to enhance detection, attribution, and SOC response readiness.