Security Research, Intern

The role

You will investigate real-world cyber threats, analyze adversary behaviors, and explore how research informs security insights. This role involves analyzing security telemetry and experimenting with machine learning for detection capabilities.

What you will do

• Research emerging threats, vulnerabilities, attacker campaigns, and evolving adversary techniques.
• Analyze threat intelligence including malicious IP addresses, domains, attacker infrastructure, and adversary behaviors.
• Investigate network activity associated with command-and-control, suspicious communications, and other potentially malicious behavior.
• Analyze security and network telemetry to identify patterns that may distinguish normal from suspicious activity.
• Explore machine learning and statistical techniques for security use cases.
• Experiment with ML models and detection approaches.
• Help build and curate structured datasets connecting threats, campaigns, indicators, vulnerabilities, and attacker techniques.
• Explore how threat intelligence and security telemetry can be combined to develop new detection ideas.
• Collaborate with threat researchers, data scientists, engineers, and product teams.
• Present research, experiments, and key learnings at the end of the internship.

Required qualifications

• Currently enrolled in a full-time Bachelor’s or Master’s degree program in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Data Science or a related technical field with an expected graduation date in Winter 2027/Sp
• Strong interest in cybersecurity, security research, threat intelligence, or machine learning
• Exposure to threat intelligence concepts such as IOCs, attacker campaigns, malware, vulnerabilities, or MITRE ATT&CK
• Basic understanding of networking concepts and protocols such as TCP/IP, DNS, and HTTP/HTTPS
• Familiarity with Python, SQL/KQL, notebooks, or similar programming and data-analysis tools
• Ability to research technical topics and clearly communicate findings
• Curiosity about how attackers operate and how their behaviors can be detected

Nice to have

• Experience working with network or security telemetry, logs, or large datasets
• Familiarity with Python data analysis tools such as pandas or NumPy
• Basic understanding of machine learning or statistical techniques, such as classification, clustering, or anomaly detection
• Experience experimenting with ML libraries such as scikit-learn, PyTorch, or similar frameworks
• Interest in applying machine learning to cybersecurity problems such as behavioral analysis or threat detection
• Participation in CTFs, security competitions, academic research, open-source projects, or personal security projects

Benefits

• Stipend
• Events & Experiences
• Opportunities to volunteer
• Fully stocked office with snacks and beverages
• Catered lunch from local restaurants every day

Before you apply

• Must have valid U.S. work authorization for the full duration of the internship
• Illumio does not provide immigration sponsorship for internship positions
• Candidates who are independently eligible for employment authorization, including eligible F-1 students who obtain appropriate CPT or OPT authorization, may be considered
• Employment authorization must be in place before employment begins

About the company

Illumio is the leader in ransomware and breach containment, redefining how organizations contain cyberattacks and enable operational resilience. The company enables Zero Trust, strengthening cyber resilience for infrastructure, systems, and organizations.