Cyber Defense Incident Responder
Investigates, analyzes, and responds to cyber incidents within the network environment or enclave.
Qualification Matrix
Basic | Intermediate | Advanced | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Foundational Qualification Options | Education | A BS degree in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Information Systems, or Computer Science, from an ABET accredited or CAE designated institution fulfills the educational requirement for this WRC | A BS degree in Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Data Science, Information Systems, or Computer Science, from an ABET accredited or CAE designated institution fulfills the educational requirement for this WRC | TBD | For additional information pertaining to ABET: www.abet.org or CAE: www.caecommunity.org |
Foundational Qualification Options | OR | OR | OR | ||
Foundational Qualification Options | DoD/Military Training | WCYBER200 or CYB 5640/CYB 5640V/WSS 010 | A-150-1980 or A-150-1202 or A-150-1203 or A150-1250 or WSS 011 or WSS 012 | 4-11-C32-255S (CP) or 4C-255N (CP) or 4C-255A (CP) or A-531-0045 or A-531-0022 | See TAB C (DCWF Training Repository) below for additional course information. |
Foundational Qualification Options | Commercial Training | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
Foundational Qualification Options | OR | OR | OR | ||
Foundational Qualification Options | Personnel Certification | CBROPS or FITSP-O or GISF or CCSP or CEH or Cloud+ or GCED or PenTest+ or Security+ or GSEC | CySA+ or CFR or GCFA or GCIA or GDSA or GCIH or GICSP or CCE | See TAB B (Certification Index) below for certification vendor information. Courses at higher proficiency levels qualify lower levels. | |
Foundational Qualification Alternative | Experience | Conditional Alternative | Conditional Alternative | Conditional Alternative | Refer to Section 3 of the DoD 8140 Manual for more information. |
Residential Qualification | On-the-Job Qualification | Always Required | Always Required | Always Required | Individuals must demonstrate capability to perform their duties in their resident environment. |
Residential Qualification | Environment-Specific Requirements | Component Discretion | Component Discretion | Component Discretion | |
Annual Maintenance | Continuous Professional Development | Minimum of 20 hours annually or what is required to maintain certification; whichever is greater. | Minimum of 20 hours annually or what is required to maintain certification; whichever is greater. | Minimum of 20 hours annually or what is required to maintain certification; whichever is greater. |
Core KSATs
KSAT ID | Description | KSAT |
---|---|---|
22 | * Knowledge of computer networking concepts and protocols, and network security methodologies. |
Knowledge |
37 | Knowledge of disaster recovery continuity of operations plans. |
Knowledge |
50 | Knowledge of how network services and protocols interact to provide network communications. |
Knowledge |
60 | Knowledge of incident categories, incident responses, and timelines for responses. |
Knowledge |
61 | Knowledge of incident response and handling methodologies. |
Knowledge |
66 | Knowledge of intrusion detection methodologies and techniques for detecting host and network-based intrusions via intrusion detection technologies. |
Knowledge |
81A | Knowledge of network protocols such as TCP/IP, Dynamic Host Configuration, Domain Name System (DNS), and directory services. |
Knowledge |
105 | Knowledge of system and application security threats and vulnerabilities (e.g., buffer overflow, mobile code, cross-site scripting, Procedural Language/Structured Query Language [PL/SQL] and injections, race conditions, covert channel, replay, return-oriented attacks, malicious code). |
Knowledge |
108 | * Knowledge of risk management processes (e.g., methods for assessing and mitigating risk). |
Knowledge |
150 | Knowledge of what constitutes a network attack and the relationship to both threats and vulnerabilities. |
Knowledge |
153 | Skill of identifying, capturing, containing, and reporting malware. |
Skill |
217 | Skill in preserving evidence integrity according to standard operating procedures or national standards. |
Skill |
470 | Coordinate and provide expert technical support to enterprise-wide cyber defense technicians to resolve cyber defense incidents. |
Task |
716A | Monitor external data sources (e.g., cyber defense vendor sites, Computer Emergency Response Teams, Security Focus) to maintain currency of cyber defense threat condition and determine which security issues may have an impact on the enterprise. |
Task |
741A | Coordinate incident response functions. |
Task |
745 | Perform cyber defense trend analysis and reporting. |
Task |
755 | Perform initial, forensically sound collection of images and inspect to discern possible mitigation/remediation on enterprise systems. |
Task |
823 | Receive and analyze network alerts from various sources within the enterprise and determine possible causes of such alerts. |
Task |
882 | Write and publish cyber defense techniques, guidance, and reports on incident findings to appropriate constituencies. |
Task |
893 | Skill in securing network communications. |
Skill |
895 | Skill in recognizing and categorizing types of vulnerabilities and associated attacks. |
Skill |
896 | Skill in protecting a network against malware. |
Skill |
897 | Skill in performing damage assessments. |
Skill |
923A | Skill in using security event correlation tools. |
Skill |
984 | Knowledge of cyber defense policies, procedures, and regulations. |
Knowledge |
991 | Knowledge of different classes of attacks (e.g., passive, active, insider, close-in, distribution). |
Knowledge |
1029A | Knowledge of malware analysis concepts and methodologies. |
Knowledge |
1030 | Collect intrusion artifacts (e.g., source code, malware, trojans) and use discovered data to enable mitigation of potential cyber defense incidents within the enterprise. |
Task |
1033 | Knowledge of basic system administration, network, and operating system hardening techniques. |
Knowledge |
1069 | Knowledge of general attack stages (e.g., foot printing and scanning, enumeration, gaining access, escalation or privileges, maintaining access, network exploitation, covering tracks). |
Knowledge |
1072 | Knowledge of network security architecture concepts including topology, protocols, components, and principles (e.g., application of defense-in-depth). |
Knowledge |
1157 | * Knowledge of national and international laws, regulations, policies, and ethics as they relate to cybersecurity. |
Knowledge |
1158 | * Knowledge of cybersecurity principles. |
Knowledge |
1159 | * Knowledge of cyber threats and vulnerabilities. |
Knowledge |
3431 | Knowledge of OSI model and underlying network protocols (e.g., TCP/IP). |
Knowledge |
5670 | Write and publish after action reviews. |
Task |
6210 | Knowledge of cloud service models and possible limitations for an incident response. |
Knowledge |
6900 | * Knowledge of specific operational impacts of cybersecurity lapses. |
Knowledge |
6935 | * Knowledge of cloud computing service models Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). |
Knowledge |
6938 | * Knowledge of cloud computing deployment models in private, public, and hybrid environment and the difference between on-premises and off-premises environments. |
Knowledge |
Additional KSATs
KSAT ID | Description | KSAT |
---|---|---|
29 | Knowledge of data backup, types of backups (e.g., full, incremental), and recovery concepts and tools. |
Knowledge |
49 | Knowledge of host/network access control mechanisms (e.g., access control list). |
Knowledge |
87 | Knowledge of network traffic analysis methods. |
Knowledge |
93 | Knowledge of packet-level analysis. |
Knowledge |
478 | Correlate incident data to identify specific vulnerabilities and make recommendations that enable expeditious remediation. |
Task |
738 | Perform analysis of log files from a variety of sources (e.g., individual host logs, network traffic logs, firewall logs, and intrusion detection system [IDS] logs) to identify possible threats to network security. |
Task |
743 | Perform cyber defense incident triage, to include determining scope, urgency, and potential impact; identifying the specific vulnerability; and making recommendations that enable expeditious remediation. |
Task |
762 | Perform real-time cyber defense incident handling (e.g., forensic collections, intrusion correlation and tracking, threat analysis, and direct system remediation) tasks to support deployable Incident Response Teams (IRTs). |
Task |
861 | Track and document cyber defense incidents from initial detection through final resolution. |
Task |
961 | Employ approved defense-in-depth principles and practices (e.g., defense-in-multiple places, layered defenses, security robustness). |
Task |
992C | Knowledge of threat environments (e.g., first generation threat actors, threat activities). |
Knowledge |
1031 | Serve as technical expert and liaison to law enforcement personnel and explain incident details as required. |
Task |
1141A | Knowledge of an organization’s information classification program and procedures for information compromise. |
Knowledge |
2179 | Coordinate with intelligence analysts to correlate threat assessment data. |
Task |
3362A | Knowledge of key factors of the operational environment and related threats and vulnerabilities. |
Knowledge |
3561 | Knowledge of the common networking and routing protocols(e.g. TCP/IP), services (e.g., web, mail, DNS), and how they interact to provide network communications. |
Knowledge |
6210 | Knowledge of cloud service models and possible limitations for an incident response. |
Knowledge |