SME - Digital & Network Security

Key Skills:

DDI Infoblox
Cisco Routing & Switching

• Develop, implement, and maintain firewall policies and configurations that align with business objectives, ensuring that access control rules are based on the principle of least privilege.

• Regularly review and update firewall policies to reflect changes in network topology, application requirements, and security threats.
• Implement a change control process to document, test, and approve firewall policy changes, promoting consistency and minimizing the risk of misconfigurations.
• Deploy advanced threat detection mechanisms, such as WildFire, to identify and analyze unknown malware and threats entering the network.
• Create custom threat prevention profiles and implement security best practices to proactively block emerging threats and zero-day vulnerabilities.
• Collaborate with threat intelligence sources to stay updated on evolving threats and adjust firewall configurations accordingly.
• Develop a comprehensive patch management strategy to assess, test, and schedule firmware and software updates for minimal service disruption.
• Establish a rollback plan in case of issues arising from updates and coordinate with stakeholders to ensure timely implementation.
• Monitor Palo Alto Networks security advisories and apply critical patches promptly to address vulnerabilities.
• Utilize Palo Altos App-ID and User-ID features for deep packet inspection, enabling the granular control of applications and users traversing the firewall.
• Continuously analyze network traffic patterns to optimize firewall rules, minimizing latency and ensuring efficient bandwidth utilization.
• Implement Quality of Service (QoS) policies to prioritize critical applications and services.
• Configure and fine-tune IPS profiles to detect and block known and emerging threats based on signatures, patterns, and anomalies.
• Collaborate with threat intelligence sources to stay current on emerging threats and update IPS policies accordingly.
• Conduct regular penetration testing to assess the effectiveness of IPS rules and policies.
• Set up and manage secure VPN tunnels, including SSL VPNs and IPSec VPNs, for remote access and site-to-site connectivity.
• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for VPN access to enhance security.
• Monitor VPN performance and capacity, scaling resources as needed to accommodate traffic demands.
• Design and implement high availability (HA) solutions, such as Active/Passive or Active/Active, to ensure firewall resilience and failover capabilities.
• Conduct regular failover tests to verify the effectiveness of HA configurations.
• Implement and maintain automated monitoring for HA events and notifications.
• Integrate Palo Alto firewalls with identity providers (e.g., LDAP, RADIUS, SAML) for user authentication.
• Enforce role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict users access to network resources based on their roles and responsibilities.
• Continuously audit and review user access permissions to maintain the principle of least privilege.
• Collect, analyze, and correlate firewall logs to detect security incidents and generate reports for compliance and management purposes.
• Automate log retention and archiving processes to meet regulatory requirements.
• Regularly review and update compliance policies and procedures based on changing regulations and industry standards.
• Establish an incident response plan and coordinate with incident response teams to promptly address security incidents.
• Maintain a knowledge base of common troubleshooting steps and solutions to expedite issue resolution.
• Conduct post-incident reviews to identify root causes and prevent recurrence.
• Maintain an up-to-date inventory of Palo Alto firewall hardware and software assets, including license and support contract information.
• Carefully plan the deployment of Infoblox DDI appliances or virtual instances, considering network architecture and scalability.
• Configure Infoblox to align with the clients specific network requirements, including IP addressing schemes and DNS naming conventions.
• Manage DNS zones, which are logical partitions of the DNS namespace, and associated DNS records.
• Create, modify, and remove DNS records, such as A, AAAA, CNAME, and MX records.
• Ensure DNS zones are organized and optimized for efficient resolution.
• Configure DHCP scopes to define IP address ranges and lease durations for client devices.
• Manage DHCP reservations for specific IP address assignments to devices with static requirements.
• Monitor DHCP leases, track IP address utilization, and automatically release expired leases.
• Maintain an inventory of IP address allocations, including subnets, ranges, and individual IP addresses.
• Track IP address assignments, reservations, and availability.
• Implement IP address discovery to identify unauthorized devices on the network.
• Deploy DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) to protect DNS communications from tampering and ensure data integrity.
• Manage DNSSEC keys and signatures to validate DNS responses.
• Implement DNS Anycast to enhance DNS service availability and distribute DNS queries among multiple geographically dispersed servers.
• Configure routing protocols (e.g., BGP) to achieve Anycast redundancy.
• Support dynamic DNS updates for clients with changing IP addresses, such as mobile devices or remote workers.
• Ensure timely and accurate updates to DNS records.
• Configure DNS forwarding to redirect DNS queries to external DNS servers when necessary.
• Enable DNS caching to store recently resolved DNS records for faster responses to subsequent queries.
• Implement DNS load balancing to distribute client DNS queries across multiple DNS servers.
• Use load balancing algorithms to optimize resource allocation and minimize server load.
• Create DNS views and implement split-horizon DNS to serve different DNS responses based on client location or identity.
• Customize DNS responses for internal and external clients.
• Manage IP address subnets, including allocation, delegation, and resizing as network requirements change.
• Leverage hierarchical subnet structures for efficient IP address space management.
• Implement DNS and DHCP failover configurations to ensure high availability and service continuity.
• Set up primary and secondary Infoblox servers for seamless failover in case of hardware or software failures.
• Ensure dual-stack compatibility to support both IPv4 and IPv6 devices.
• Continuously monitor DNS and DHCP services for performance metrics, error logs, and security events.
• Employ log analysis tools to detect and respond to anomalies.
• Integrate Infoblox DDI with Microsoft Active Directory for seamless user and device authentication.
• Enable DNS and DHCP services to work in harmony with AD environments.
• Implement RBAC policies to control user access and permissions within Infoblox DDI.
• Define roles and assign privileges based on job responsibilities and security requirements.
• Implement security measures such as DNSSEC, DHCP snooping, and access control lists (ACLs) to protect DNS and DHCP services.
• Continuously update security policies to safeguard against emerging threats.
• Regularly back up Infoblox DDI configurations, databases, and historical data.
• Develop and test disaster recovery plans to ensure rapid data restoration in the event of system failures.
• Maintain relationships with Infoblox and relevant vendors for technical support and issue resolution.
• Stay informed about product updates, security patches, and software releases.
• Apply patches and updates following best practices to maintain system security and performance.
• Maintain detailed documentation of Infoblox DDI configurations, policies, and network diagrams.
• Provide comprehensive training and knowledge transfer sessions to internal staff and client stakeholders to ensure proficient use of Infoblox DDI solutions.