Security Engineering & Operations Topics
Operational security practices, secure systems implementation, threat modeling, penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, and security operations at production scale. Covers network security, endpoint security, secure architecture implementation, incident response mechanics, and security automation. Distinct from Security & Compliance (which addresses governance, compliance frameworks, and policy) and from Security Research & Innovation (which addresses novel techniques and research contributions).
Compliance Tool Integration and Automation
Demonstrate practical experience integrating compliance and security tooling into evidence pipelines and program workflows. Explain work with categories of tools such as cloud security posture management, cloud native application protection platforms, vulnerability scanners, logging and monitoring systems, and governance risk and compliance platforms. Cover approaches for API based evidence collection, data normalization and storage for audit trails, automated control testing and re performance, sampling strategies, alerting and workflow integration for remediation, dashboard and report design for different audiences, and the measurable benefits of automation for control coverage and operational efficiency.
Incident Investigation and Remediation
Focuses on systematic investigation methodology and the distinction between immediate mitigation and long term prevention. Topics include collecting and preserving evidence, establishing a reliable timeline, identifying affected systems, performing root cause analysis, containment versus remediation, and documenting findings. Covers basic digital forensics principles and chain of custody, techniques for reducing blast radius and restoring service as a short term response, and planning permanent fixes to prevent recurrence. Also addresses privacy incident investigation practices such as interviewing stakeholders, assessing regulatory and compliance implications, timeliness and documentation requirements, remediation planning, and using post incident analysis to improve processes and controls.
Vulnerability Prioritization and Management
Assessing and converting vulnerability findings into actionable remediation priorities and managing the operational program that delivers those remediations. This topic covers severity assessment, standardized scoring such as the Common Vulnerability Scoring System and its limitations, and how to augment base scores with contextual factors including exploitability, presence of known exploits or public proof of concept, required access levels, attack complexity, asset criticality and exposure, business impact, regulatory implications, and compensating controls. Candidates should describe practical triage workflows for patching, mitigation, compensating controls, exception handling, and setting remediation windows and risk acceptance criteria when resources or business continuity constrain fixes. The topic also includes integrating threat intelligence and system architecture context into prioritization, defining program metrics for effectiveness, designing vulnerability management processes, decision making for remediation priorities, and communicating prioritized remediation plans and trade offs to engineering and executive stakeholders.
Security Controls Design and Implementation
Designing and deploying security controls across systems and processes. Includes selection and design of preventive, detective, and corrective controls; technical controls such as authentication, encryption, and input validation; procedural controls such as change management and access approval workflows; testing and validation of controls; monitoring and alerting; trade offs between security and usability; and strategies for phased rollout and stakeholder engagement.