Principal Security Researcher

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Security represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all. We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end to end, simplified solutions. The Microsoft Security organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world.

The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) is growing and looking for a seasoned Principal Security Researcher (malware reverse engineer) with experience supporting threat intelligence analysis and security services and products. Are you passionate about reversing malware? MSTIC is responsible for delivering timely threat intelligence across our products & services teams, assisting with our engineering response to security issues/incidents and assisting with government policy outreach for the company.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, modeling, cybersecurity, and/or anomaly detection
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science or related field.
• 2+ years of experience in reverse engineering malware that are associated with APT or financially motivated groups
• 3+ years experience analyzing malicious desktop, mobile and web applications developed in common programming languages such as x86/x86-64 Assembly, ARM, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, PowerShell, Ruby, Python, ActionScript, ASP, Java, JavaScript, HTML, etc.
• 3+ years experience using commercial and open-source malware analysis tools and platforms such as debuggers, disassemblers, decompilers, sandboxes and virtualization solutions.

Other Requirements:

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations, the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations. As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their U.S. permanent residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.

Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This position requires verification of citizenship due to citizenship-based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local government agency customers and is subject to certain citizenship-based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport.

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years experience in software development lifecycle, large-scale computing, modeling, cybersecurity, and/or anomaly detection
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science or related field.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing packed and obfuscated programs, scripts, and shellcode, including experience in identifying and subverting anti-disassembly, anti-decompilation, anti-debugging and anti-virtualization/emulation and anti-forensic techniques and methodologies.
• Tactical software development experience in support of automation, triage and analysis of datasets, information and artifacts associated with APT related malware and campaign activity.
• Experience working closely with threat intelligence analysts to understand their workflow and analytic problems and turning those into large-scale analytics.

Security Research IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $137,600 - $267,000 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $180,400 - $294,000 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis.

#MSTIC #MSFTSecurity

• Conducting triage and compressive analysis of known and suspected malicious applications, documents, network traffic and artifacts in support of MSTIC’s threat actor pursuit mission, services, and products.
• Reverse engineering & binary analysis to include dynamic and static malware analysis. Tactical software development to support triage and analysis of datasets and information associated with APT activity and behavior as well as APT artifact analysis.
• Contributing host- and network-based detection signatures/scripts to a variety of Microsoft products and services.
• Maintaining up to date and in-depth technical understanding and knowledge of the latest offensive and defensive Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs).
• Maintaining up to date and in-depth technical knowledge of adversary capabilities, infrastructure, and techniques that can be applied to define, develop, and implement techniques to discover and track the adversaries of today and identify the attacks of tomorrow.
• Maintaining up to date and in-depth knowledge across all critical elements and common data types used in threat intelligence analysis, including malware used in targeted adversary campaigns; host and log forensics including methods of data collection and analytic techniques; and network forensics including common protocols and how those are used in adversary operations