Expert Engineer - Application & Endpoint Security (WAF)

Position Overview

We seek a seasoned professional with extensive expertise in deployment, configuration, monitoring, and management of Web Application Firewalls (WAF) supporting both internal and external clients. This role demands close cooperation with cybersecurity teams to safeguard web applications against numerous cyber threats, including those detailed in the OWASP Top 10. Effective communication with various stakeholders for new WAF rollouts and issue resolution is vital.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end provisioning of web applications on WAF, starting with requirements analysis, defining protection scope, and crafting customized security profiles aligned with application architecture.
• Conduct thorough testing of web application flows to fine-tune security policies, aiming to minimize false positives for optimal Security Operations Center (SOC) monitoring.
• Plan and implement security profile enhancements for existing WAF-protected applications, ensuring minimal disruption to live traffic.
• Analyze attack logs to identify false positives and adjust security profiles to enhance monitoring accuracy.
• Track SSL/TLS certificate expirations on WAF and proactively update them to prevent user impact.
• Assess security implications of all exceptions or whitelist requests before approving them on the WAF.
• Coordinate security assessments and audits regularly to verify the efficacy of WAF configurations and policies.
• Support SOC and Incident Response teams by providing detailed attack logs for investigations.
• Monitor WAF system resources such as CPU, memory, and disk usage to remain within acceptable thresholds and raise alerts promptly.
• Ensure all WAF installations run the latest vendor-supported operating systems.
• Address newly identified security vulnerabilities in WAF through appropriate corrective and remediation actions.
• Evaluate, plan, test, and deploy WAF software updates to stable recommended versions following comprehensive bug fixes and impact assessments to avoid disruption.
• Maintain detailed documentation for WAF architecture (HLD, LLD), configurations, security policies, application statuses, and ownership for all deployments.
• Identify anomalous activities and attacks by regularly reviewing administrative and security alerts.
• Keep track of license and vendor contract renewals and communicate relevant information to stakeholders.
• Conduct regular backup restoration tests for all WAFs and ensure backups to remote servers are configured and executed according to schedule.
• Report operational challenges and current issues affecting WAF deployments.
• Implement compensatory security controls on WAF when application-level fixes are not feasible.
• Deploy dedicated WAF instances for special projects and develop bespoke security policies for protected web applications.
• Integrate WAF with various security tools such as SIEM, PAM, RSA, SolarWinds, among others.

Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum 6 years of relevant experience in WAF administration and web application security.
• Preferred certifications: Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) or equivalent.
• Strong expertise in troubleshooting F5 WAF deployments.
• Comprehensive understanding of web application security principles, specifically OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and attack methods.
• In-depth knowledge of network protocols, firewall technologies, and web server platforms.
• Preferred experience with scripting languages to automate and customize WAF configurations.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related discipline.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving capabilities, adept at prioritizing and resolving complex security challenges.
• Strong communication skills to effectively collaborate across teams and explain technical details to non-technical audiences.