Cyber-physical Systems Reverse Engineer

Cyber-Physical Systems Reverse Engineer - Job Description

Who We Are
Kudu Dynamics is a 100% employee-owned company, forged out of a decade of experience in computer network operations and staffed with talent who have built, overseen, and enhanced capabilities throughout the entire USG arsenal. Our team of hackers, engineers, makers, and shakers have experience spanning centuries of research, development, and operations missions - across desktop, mobile, IoT, and embedded platforms. Kudu Dynamics is uniquely qualified to anticipate tomorrow's threats and build the next generation of capabilities.

Full Job Description

Have you ever had a developer or system designer tell you, "It'll never do that, that's impossible!" before you proved it was possible by making the system do it anyway? If so, we invite you to join agrowing company of security researchers, engineers, and hackers as we develop breakthrough technologies and cyber capabilities for accomplishing the "impossible." Here at Kudu, we are looking for candidates who know when and how to break the proverbial rules to achieve game-changing strategic and tactical advantages for our national security. On this team, we are designing and implementing new methods for automating the analysis of cyber-physical systems (both hardware and firmware), including the discovery of unique and interesting emergent behaviors that exist outside of what the system designers intended. As a cyber-physical systems reverse engineer, you will be responsible for harnessing real devices in a lab environment and helping the team understand the system's intended functionality as well as its actual behavior in real-world situations. This role calls for setting up analog and digital instrumentation in automated workflows, integrating these lab-based harnesses with existing and emerging automated software cyber reasoning tools, and performing hands-on testing to verify hypotheses and produce the highest fidelity results.

Responsibilities:

• Analyze Sponsor-provided cyber-physical systems (and systems-of-systems) to understand their functions and intended behaviors
• Enumerate internal interfaces between components and external interfaces between the system and other systems (or the environment)
• Research proprietary software and hardware, including reverse engineering and debugging complex components and communications protocols
• Develop production-level code to automate the exploration of system state space
• Document both research and code as part of a small, but rapidly-growing team
• Build automated unit tests where applicable

Minimum Qualifications

• A U.S. citizen with an active Top Secret security clearance
• A B.S. degree or equivalent in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or a related field; or, 4 years of relevant experience in the security domain
• Proficiency with C/C++ and Python
• Knowledge of embedded systems software and hardware design practices including real-time operating systems, usage and functions of peripheral/coprocessor hardware, common serial and wireless communications interfaces, common classes and applications of embedded sensors and actuators, etc.
• Familiarity with software program analysis techniques such as fuzzing, symbolic execution, etc.
• Experience with electronics diagnostic equipment such as multimeters, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, protocol analyzers, etc. (with strong preference to candidates who have experience scripting or automating measurements using any of these)
• Willingness to continue to learn and try new approaches

Nice-to-have Qualifications

• Experience with tools such as IDA Pro, Binary Ninja, Ghidra, etc.
• Ability to understand assembly code in at least one architecture (e.g., x86, ARM)
• Understanding of low-level programming implementation and architecture topics such as calling conventions, endianness, indirect calls.

Benefits We Provide

• Equity at a company that is doing dynamic, fun, meaningful, and interesting work.
• A flexible work schedule, with the option to work remotely most days, if that's your style.
• Your own yearly discretionary budget to buy the things that make you happy.
• In addition to highly competitive salaries, we offer premium healthcare options, 401k matching, and an annual pass to a swim in the bonus pool. We also offer four weeks of paid time off and 11 federal holidays to utilize whenever you want throughout the year.
• Awesome, enthusiastic co-workers and a company culture that promotes a jerk- free environment. Rattle the windows with the company band, participate in board game or movie nights, and help balance out the scotch vs. bourbon ratio in the office.

Kudu provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Pay Range: $175,000 - $200,000 per year