Cyber Security Engineer

Bassey Essien Senior security engineer

Personal Email: *********@*****.***

Previously Issued DOD Top Secret Clearance

Experience Summary

I am a Cyber Security Specialist with over 15 years of professional experience in the federal sector supporting cyber security infrastructure both in Cleared and Uncleared Federal Space. My work in this sector has exposed me to wide range of leading Security Solutions such as Security Information Enterprise Management Systems[SIEMs], Cisco Next Generation FirePower Management Center, Intrusion Detection and Prevention systems[IDS/IPS], Malware re-engineering and OS systems such as Unix/Linux/Windows platforms, My skills are not only limited to systems deployment but actually supporting and maintaining these tools, mentoring front line cyber security analysts on how to detect and mitigate suspicious activities on the network.

Relevant Accomplishments/Skills

My primary area of expertise is the implementation of Cyber Security detection/prevention.

Correlating Log data from different vendor solutions and parsing into Splunk for analysis.

Automating Skybox Assurance firewall rules sets to streamline with industry standard firewall configuration guidelines thus minimizing rule duplication.

Administered Cisco Firepower Management Center to for centralize management of Intrusion events.

Education, Certifications, and Training

Certified Novelle Netware Administrator

Unix/Linux Training

Splunk Fundamentals Educational Courses [User Certified

AspireShip SaaS [Software as a Service] Training

AWS Technical Essentials Training and Certification

Technical Skills

Languages

Databases

Applications/Tools

Methodologies/

Frameworks

Systems/ Network Platforms

Perl

Oracle

Splunk/ArcSight

Linux Centos

Python

RDS

IDS/IPS

Linux Red Hat

MySQL

Firewall

Windows

SKybox

EMS VMware

McAfee/TrendMicro

Appliance/Hybrid

Professional Experience

USDA [Customer Value Partners (CVP)] 08/22 – Present

Senior Network Security Engineer

A member of the USDA Perimeter Enterprise Security team in the office of the Chief Security Officer [OCIO] supporting and protecting USDA network security infrastructure from external threats and internal misuse. The daily task includes proactively monitoring critical mission support systems using best industry standard tools such as Cisco FirePower Management Center to manage network access control policy, intrusion policy and malware policy. Review the current connection events for allowed traffic by Cisco Next Generation Firewalls. Ensure that suspicious websites and URLs are blacklisted. Worked with Cisco Support to ensure USDA issued IPs have good reputation score when attempting to connect with the Customers websites.

Obxtek Inc. – Social Security Administration; Senior Intrusion Penetration Specialist(06/17 – 2020)

Built and Administered Cisco Stealthwatch IDS/IPS On-Premises appliance to ensure proper network segmentation of SSA assets and mitigates Zero Day exploits and vulnerabilities.

Carried out incident detection and response and threat analysis of suspicious activities on SSA network to ensure the threat was blocked by perimeter firewall.

Created and fine-tuned Cisco Stealthwatch management console to send alerts, also customized Cisco dashboard for specific traffic.

Analyzed Cisco Talos Threat Intelligence for latest threats and vulnerabilities from multiple malware vendors and mapped out mitigation strategies

Built and deployed VMware server for Splunk Enterprise system.

Installed and configured Splunk Universal Forwarder for data ingestion to Splunk Enterprise Server

Ensured that SSA resource provisioned on AWS instance are available on demand.

Deployed Skybox Firewall Assurance Suite on a virtual server to normalize configuration data and change tracking of firewall rules and policies in compliant with SSA policy.

Assessed firewall rules and configuration data across all enterprise firewalls and correlate existing firewall configuration rules with Skybox industry best practices.

Center For Medicare/Medicaid Services-Insight Global-Lockheed Martin, Infor. Security Engineer; 07/10 – 04/17

Administered McAfee Epo server/client to ensure Dat files are replicated on users systems

Deployed IBM Proventia IDS/IPS to mitigate known and Zero-Day threats and vulnerabilities

Deployed Enterasys Dragon IPS server on CMS network to provide multi layered protection against threats and vulnerabilities.

Analyzed malware detected by intrusion preventions systems and enterprise scanning tools.

Mitigated vulnerabilities at perimeter firewall.

Troubleshoot issues related to McAfee Epo repository failing to update virus definitions on systems.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center» L-3 ; Sr. Info Security Engineer (10/2008 – 04/2010)

Supported NASA Earth Observing System Information Security Operations Center (EISOC) connectivity with EBnet.

Carried out vulnerability assessment of earth observing subsystems in accordance with FISMA policies and procedures.

Reviewed EOS subsystems documentations systems requiring security test and evaluation (ST&E)

Installed and configured Linux Centos, software packages and Bastille Linux hardening software in accordance with NASA security objectives.

Participated in certification and accreditation (C&A) activities in compliance with NASA Goddard space flight center security guidelines.

United States Department of Justice 01/07 –10/07

Security Engineer (USDOJ)

Administered information system security program to ensure compliance with the federal information security management (FISMA) objectives.

Determined the threat levels based on FIPS-199 security categorization.

Carried out McAfee foundstone vulnerability scans and assessments.

Reviewed patch management using trusted agent software.

Administered IPS proventia Siteprotector management console to centralize network traffic.

Participated in the monthly United States Department of Justice IT Security Council.

Performed a system wide incident response/contingency Justice Shield exercise.

Security Clearance

Previously Issued DOD TOP Secret-SSBI Clearance

Previously Issued DHS- Border Protection Secret Clearance

Awards, Honors, and Memberships

Participated/volunteered in the area food bank program (Manna Food)

Publications, Research, & Presentations

AspireShip Sales as a Service (SAAS) product demo presentation with a potential customer

Additional Information

Experience with Deep Packet Analysis Using Industry Standard tools such as ArcSight and Cisco ASA-FirePower devices in on-premises and Hybrid platform.

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