A Day in the Life of a Security Engineer

What It Means to be a PS Engineer in Cyber Security

Our Professional Services Engineers aren’t just like any you’ve met or worked with before – they are at the core of advanced cyber threat detection. What does that mean, you ask? Well, in fact, they support our global customers of sometimes tens of thousands of employees and clients in the deployment, integration and maintenance of our Network Detection and Response (NDR) solution, ExeonTrace. They analyze all technical requirements within medium to massive corporate networks that we serve in order to test and successfully implement the anomaly detection tool.

As ExeonTrace uses tailored machine learning to identify and sort out anomalies in complex networks, it needs to be examined and adapted to perfectly match each individual company network we integrate it into. Hence, our PS Engineers are also tasked with the examination of customer networks during Proof of Concepts (PoCs).

On other days, this impressive work also translates into onboarding and training new customers and partners on the functionalities of ExeonTrace.

So, what does the life of a Professional Services Engineer in the world of cyber security look like?

Andreas Hunkeler, Head of Professional Services

Interview: Engineers Who Make a Difference

What is your background and previous work experience?

Harald Beutlhauser: I have more than 30 years of experience in presales for IT solutions, mainly in the Internet environment. For nearly 20 years now, I have been working for cyber security companies. I have been responsible for ISO 27001 certifications and led security consultations throughout all of Europe.

Axel Rensing: I started my apprenticeship as an IT System Engineer in 1997 and since then have been in IT. Since 2002, I have focused on IT security and got a lot of experience in perimeter and endpoint security, LAN/WAN and even gathered some data center knowledge. This is quite helpful in understanding customer pain points and for rapid problem solving!

Looking back at your career path, what is different at Exeon as well as with the NDR solution offering, ExeonTrace?

H: As a company, Exeon has a very strong and positive human factor. Team work is very good, not only within teams themselves, but also between different departments. Regarding the technical side of ExeonTrace, you can see, at every point, that a lot of heart and soul goes into its development to make it the best possible NDR tool.

A: Unlike my last employers, Exeon is a small company that is very agile and able to quickly adapt to each day's requirements. In comparison to other NDR or SIEM solutions that I got to know during my career, ExeonTrace is a solution that is easy to install, easy to maintain and still gets you the information you need. Unlike many other systems, ExeonTrace will not flood your mailbox with false positive alarms but direct you to the events that really are important to be handled.

How do you typically like to start your day as a Security Engineer?

H: We normally start our day with the team meeting... dynamic and efficient.

A: I turn on the coffee machine.

What is the challenge that corporations you encounter face the most nowadays?

H: IT skillset shortage is one of the main problems. For many companies, it’s very hard to find and keep skilled IT employees. This is also due to the other problem: a shortage of budget and funding for IT and especially IT security.

A: From my experience, the biggest problem is that most companies do not take IT security as seriously as they should as IT security will cause a lot of costs without providing direct value and can be cumbersome for the employees to deal with. That is until a security breach takes place...

What’s the best advice you could provide to engineer peers, IT professionals or companies?

H: Curiosity and interest of the ever-evolving IT landscape – keep your eyes and ears open to emerging technologies and methods! Join communities or exchange with your technical or client-facing colleagues regularly.

A: Constantly question yourself and your IT security systems. Remain open to new approaches and solutions.

What do you like the most about Exeon or its NDR tool, ExeonTrace?

H: About Exeon: the team and the team spirit! About ExeonTrace: the flexibility.

A: As said before, Exeon is a small but very agile and effective company.

What is the difference between a threat, a vulnerability, and a risk?

H: There is a risk that a threat uses a vulnerability to cause harm.

A: A vulnerability is the weak point that might be attacked, the threat is the exploit aiming at the vulnerability and a risk is the probability that the attack might be successful regarding the amount of damage that might be caused.

Explain a time you had to solve an engineering problem at Exeon.

A: In one PoC we had an ExeonTrace installation on VMware with enabled DRS. Unfortunately, not all ESX hosts had a proper VLAN configuration. So, from time to time, our server was available but unavailable at the next moment. As the VM admin was not part of the team debugging the issue, it took us quite some time to understand what was happening. This goes back to the notion of team work and how our accumulated experiences enrich our daily work!

Expansion of the Professional Services Team

To conclude, deploying, maintaining, and supporting a network security platform comes with a good dose of collaboration and combining forces to tackle complex cyber threats before they enter a system. Working with such significant companies, ranging from banks to airlines and critical infrastructure, makes the daily tasks meaningful and provide our engineers with a true sense of accomplishment. Plus, it is a fun, open-minded environment for them to internally address questions and challenges.

Most importantly, this exact team is currently looking for an additional Professional Services Engineer as Exeon grows and keeps more corporate networks safe from infiltrations and cyber threats.

If you reside in Germany or Switzerland, and working alongside Harald and Axel interests you, do not hesitate to visit our careers webpage or view the job details and apply directly here!