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Michael Hayward

@michaelhayward

Cybersecurity Analyst at the Department of Air Force who led threat emulation for the 834th squadron and supported 20,000+ DoD critical assets.

United States

Message

What I'm looking for

I'm seeking a Cybersecurity Analyst position where I can apply my incident response and threat emulation skills to help safeguard digital assets and protect the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of critical information systems.

At the Department of Air Force, I led cyber threat emulation for the 834th squadron, supporting 250+ operators, and served as a USCYBERCOM CTE signatory. I created threat emulation plans targeting APT groups and developed analysts’ skills in Red Team actions and threat hunting.

At SE Solutions, I led a team supporting the USCYBERCOM Cyber Mission Force initiative, evaluated systems for anomalous activity, and configured SIEM alerting engines that reduced false positives below 10%. I also developed a Virtual Training Environment with VITE for 800+ defensive cyber operators and bring experience in incident response, vulnerability assessments, and cloud security.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

IT Cybersecurity Specialist/CTE Lead

Current

Department of Air Force

Jan 2023 - Present (3 years 9 months)

Led cyber threat emulation for the 834th squadron, supporting over 250 operators and enhancing security for 20,000+ DoD critical assets. Created and executed Threat Emulation Plans targeting multiple APTs and trained over 30 network analysts in SIEM tools and threat hunting.

Threat Emulation Incident Response SIEM Deep Packet Inspection Threat Hunting NIST SP 800 53 Firewalls Intrusion Detection Systems Network Security Cloud Security

IT Cybersecurity Specialist/Operations Officer

Department of Air Force

Aug 2022 - Jan 2023 (5 months)

Managed a team of 26 Cybersecurity Protection Team members in directing critical missions for nuclear command and control and ballistic missile defense systems. Directed vulnerability assessments across 30 critical Air Force systems and created a Virtual Training Environment for 800+ defensive cyber operators.

Vulnerability Assessment Virtual Training Environments Purple Team Operations Incident Response Threat Detection Log Analysis

Cyber Security Analyst/Team Lead

SESSolutions

Apr 2019 - Aug 2022 (3 years 4 months)

Led a team of 15+ contractors in supporting the USCYBERCOM Cyber Mission Force initiative, enhancing cybersecurity measures and vulnerability assessments. Evaluated 300+ systems across 4 networks for anomalous activity and conducted incident response based on risk categorization.

Incident Response Vulnerability Assessment MITRE ATT&CK SIEM Threat Hunting DISA STIGs NIST

IT Specialist Infosec/Sysadmin

Department of Army

Feb 2016 - Apr 2019 (3 years 2 months)

Performed Assured Compliance Assessment Solution (ACAS) and Nessus vulnerability scans, built dashboards showing network posture, and supplied patch and remediation guidance. Administered McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator for more than 17,000 McAfee agents and implemented ArcSight for the Network Enterprise Center.

ACAS Nessus Vulnerability Scanning McAfee EPolicy Orchestrator ArcSight Network Security Patch Management

IT Specialist Customer Support

Department of Army

Sep 2015 - Feb 2016 (5 months)

Resolved Tier 1, 2, and 3 customer repair issues remotely via command line, Remote Desktop Protocol, and remote-control tools. Managed user account issues and troubleshot minor IT equipment failures with zero loss of time at a 24-hour Security Operations Center.

Remote Support Troubleshooting PowerShell BASH Security Operations Center