Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Cybersecurity Technician

  • Title: Cybersecurity Technician
  • Class: Classified
  • Exempt Status: Non-exempt
  • Grade: 23

Job Summary

Under the direction of management, the incumbent provides technical support in the area of cybersecurity and the application of tools and processes required to protect PCC’s cyber assets and its user community. The incumbent performs network and system risk management support activities, including monitoring firewall logs and network activity for unusual or concerning behavior. The incumbent assists with analyzing and troubleshooting network traffic and performance issues, and reports or escalates issues to management as required. The Cybersecurity Technician helps maintain existing security related tools and systems and provides technical assistance to users and others in the College.

Typical Duties and Responsibilities

  1. Monitors firewall and other relevant security logs to review for threats, anomalies, intrusions and/or abnormal connection behavior. Investigates, reports and escalates issues as required to Cybersecurity staff and management.
  2. Troubleshoots network performance or network security issues. Analyzes network traffic, responds to problem tickets and resolves service requests.
  3. Participates in incident response, computer forensics, data preservation and investigations related to network breaches and/or unauthorized access of data.
  4. Supports regular and special reporting and analysis, including reports of vulnerabilities, risks, control deficiencies, remediation strategies, and performance metrics.
  5. Configures and tests security related technologies. Troubleshoots and corrects security and data related problems.
  6. Performs hardware and software upgrades and documents configurations and system specifications.
  7. Helps maintain configuration records and documentation, including security operations and maintenance, incident control, cyber incident response procedures, and other standards, policies, and procedures.
  8. Provides security related technical support to users and assists with the research, testing, evaluation, and implementation of security tools, systems, and processes.
  9. Assists with College risk and compliance management and strategy through application of PCC policies conforming with security frameworks.
  10. Reviews external threat intelligence feeds from cybersecurity agencies; sends alerts and coordinates with responsible parties to patch high risk vulnerabilities.
  11. Maintains, monitors, and modifies security tools, systems and processes according to standard and department policies and procedures, and automates wherever feasible using programming languages such as Python.
  12. Supports the implementation of effective key service platforms, including on-premises physical and virtual cloud environments.
  13. Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Environment and Physical Requirements

Work environment includes frequent disruptions and changes in priorities. Work is performed in an office environment or using standard information technology equipment combined with specialized cybersecurity products. Working conditions may require various shifts and/or weekends to provide incident response operations, business continuity plans, or disaster recovery operations. There is occasional travel between campuses or to off-site meetings.  Position requires routine periods of standing and walking and may require physical agility and the lifting of equipment (30-50 pounds). Physical skills are required for keyboarding and operating complex network and computing equipment. This position may require occasional work on weekends, evenings, and holidays.

Minimum Qualifications

Associate’s Degree in Computer Information Systems or related discipline. Relevant experience may substitute for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis. Two years of work experience in cybersecurity, with experience securing and monitoring multiple platform and network configurations and implementations, and utilizing various security management tools.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Knowledge of:
  • Applicable information security administration, management, governance, and compliance principles, practices, laws, rules and regulations;
  • Cybersecurity standard frameworks, controls, technology, and solutions;
  • Information technology systems and processes, network infrastructure, data architecture, data processes, and protocols;
  • Incident response management;
  • Risk assessment methodology;
  • Insider threat and forensics.
Skills in:
  • Executing cybersecurity strategies and solutions;
  • Troubleshooting and operating a computer and various software packages;
  • Interfacing with internal or external parties regarding security policy standards violations, security controls failures, and incident response situations;
  • Working with diverse academic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds of community college students and staff;
  • Using judgment and ingenuity in maintaining objectives and technical standards.
Ability to:
  • Effectively communicate technical issues to diverse audiences, both in writing and verbally;
  • Maintaining confidentiality;
  • Learn quickly and apply knowledge to new situations;
  • Handle sensitive and confidential matters, situations, and data;
  • Understand and follow broad and complex instructions;
  • Comprehend technical language and to confer, analyze and write in an objective, lucid manner;
  • Work independently and prioritize multiple tasks and adapt to needed changes;
  • Remain calm under high pressure/difficult situations.

New: 10/20