The professionals at the National Security Agency (NSA) have one common goal: to protect our nation. The mission requires a strong offense and a steadfast defense. The offense collects, processes and disseminates intelligence information derived from foreign signals for intelligence and counterintelligence purposes. The defense prevents adversaries from gaining access to sensitive classified national security information.
The United States has experienced profound changes that impact the way the National Security Agency (NSA) conducts its mission. The explosion of Internet communications has created a need for the Computer Network Operations (CNO) mission. This very important mission includes computer network defense and computer network exploitation. In order to carry out these functions NSA is looking for analysts who are highly skilled, want to stay on the leading edge of technology and impassioned about ensuring the United States maintains a strategic edge in cyberspace. These are NOT your average Cyber, Computer Science, Networking or Engineering jobs!
Computer Network Analysts are hired into positions directly supporting a technical mission office (either on the offensive or defensive side) or one of a few different development programs like the Intrusion Analyst Skill Development Program (IASDP) and the Cybersecurity Operations Development Program (CSODP) (formerly named the Information Assurance and Cyber Development Program ( IACDP)). These development programs are 3 years in length and combine formal training and diverse work assignments that may cross both offensive and defensive missions.
As a Computer Network Analyst on the offensive side you will:
- analyze all-source data to evaluate foreign target opportunities
- understand and evaluate foreign target network
- develop strategies against those foreign target networks
As a Computer Network Analyst on the defensive side you will:
- identify cyber threats and anomalies by conducting research and analysis on data collected from numerous sources
- identify vulnerabilities and their impact to customers
- build and integrate defense response capabilities against these threats