Nicholas A. Southern | Security Architecture

FIREWALL: ACTIVE
THREAT LEVEL: ELEVATED
IDS SIGNATURES: 14,892
UPTIME: 99.9% — 241 SYSTEMS MONITORED
ENCRYPTED TUNNEL: WIREGUARD
CLEARANCE: TS/SCI ACTIVE
AUDIT LOG: 100% RETENTION
STIG COMPLIANCE: ENFORCED
NIST 800-171: COMPLIANT
PATCH STATUS: CURRENT

FIREWALL: ACTIVE
THREAT LEVEL: ELEVATED
IDS SIGNATURES: 14,892
UPTIME: 99.9% — 241 SYSTEMS MONITORED
ENCRYPTED TUNNEL: WIREGUARD
CLEARANCE: TS/SCI ACTIVE
AUDIT LOG: 100% RETENTION
STIG COMPLIANCE: ENFORCED
NIST 800-171: COMPLIANT
PATCH STATUS: CURRENT


Active TS/SCI Clearance — Jacksonville, FL

Nicholas A.
Southern

Operational Systems & Network Engineer with 6+ years in 24/7 NOC environments, secure system deployment, and classified DoD infrastructure. Specializing in Vulnerability Management, NIST Compliance, and Resilient SOC Architecture.

SECTOR 7-G

SIGINT MONITOR

6+Years Ops

1,000+Incidents

241Systems

99.9%Uptime

Operational Experience // cat experience.log

JUN 2024 — JAN 2026

Senior Information Systems Analyst (ISSM Support)

▸ Lockheed Martin | Jacksonville, FL

  • Enforced NIST 800-171 compliance across RHEL and Windows environments, directly supporting data security for sensitive research frameworks.
  • Executed technical vulnerability assessments and STIG hardening, serving as primary incident handler for system deviations and security alerts.
  • Engineered Splunk dashboards for real-time security event analysis, tuning correlation rules to reduce false positives and ensure 100% audit log retention.
  • Mentored junior staff on RMF packages and SOPs, fostering continuous monitoring and rapid response culture.

Splunk SIEMNIST RMFSTIG HardeningRHEL

SEP 2023 — NOV 2023

Information Assurance Analyst

▸ Five Stones Research Corp | Jacksonville, FL

  • Configured McAfee HBSS for Endpoint Detection and Response, ensuring continuous visibility into threat activity on classified networks.
  • Managed incident response workflows for system outages and security breaches, maintaining strict DoD reporting timelines.
  • Conducted forensic analysis of endpoint logs to identify indicators of compromise (IOCs) and validate system integrity.

McAfee HBSSISO 27001ForensicsEDR

APR 2019 — JAN 2023

NOC Engineer & Systems Administrator

▸ United States Air Force | Ramstein AB, Germany

  • Managed 24/7/365 network defense operations for 3,000+ personnel across JWICS/ISR networks.
  • Administered Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers, maintaining 99.9% uptime through rigorous patch management.
  • Resolved 1,000+ Tier 1/2 incidents, performing rapid triage and containment of critical connectivity and security issues.
  • Mitigated zero-day vulnerabilities across 241 systems within 24 hours, preserving system accreditation during high-threat windows.

Red Hat LinuxJWICS/ISRTS/SCI Ops24/7 NOC

Technical Competencies // ls -la /skills/

Field Engineering

Hardware InstallCable ManagementRack & StackSystem IntegrationEngineering Diagrams

Operating Systems

RHELWindows ServerActive DirectorySTIG Hardening

Security Tools

Splunk (SIEM)McAfee HBSSACASRemedyWebHelpDesk

Network & Scripting

TCP/IPPort SecurityIncident TriageBashPowerShell

Certifications // gpg –verify certs.sig

S+

CompTIA Security+

Certified — DoD 8570 IAT II 8570

N+

CompTIA Network+

Certified — Network Fundamentals

A+

CompTIA A+

Certified — Hardware & OS Troubleshooting

ITL

ITIL v4 Foundation

Service Management Framework

Education // cat /etc/credentials

🎓

B.S. Cybersecurity & Information Assurance

Western Governors University (WGU)

In Progress

Security Frameworks // ./deploy –frameworks


SOC Burnout Resilience

A comprehensive framework designed to combat analyst fatigue and build sustainable 24/7 security operations. Battle-tested strategies for human-centered SOC management.

Explore Framework →


NIST RMF Implementation

Practical guide to implementing Risk Management Framework controls in classified environments. Lessons learned from real-world DoD deployments.

Coming Soon →


Vulnerability Lifecycle

End-to-end vulnerability management methodology — from zero-day discovery to remediation verification across enterprise-scale infrastructure.

Coming Soon →

Establish Comms

Seeking opportunities in Security Architecture, SOC Operations, or Vulnerability Management.

nas@secure ~/comms %

# —— contact.conf ——

$ echo $EMAIL

nicholas.southern@email.com

$ echo $LOCATION

Jacksonville, FL

$ cat links.conf

linkedin | github

$ echo $STATUS

Ready for new mission

Security Architecture & Operations

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