The ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape creates a perpetual competition between ethical and malicious hackers. As a result, companies require specialized services to protect themselves from the growing number of cyber threats.
While traditional security assessments such as vulnerability assessments and penetration tests can provide valuable insight into a company’s technical security posture, they may not encompass all aspects that an actual attacker could exploit. Thus, these tests can only offer a reactive approach that helps companies identify vulnerabilities and take necessary actions. However, they may not provide adequate preparation to respond to a genuine attack by a motivated adversary.
This is where Red Teaming comes into the picture.
What is Red Teaming?
Red teaming differs from traditional pentesting in many ways. While pentesting aims to find vulnerabilities and exploit them within a specific set of company systems, a red team focuses on achieving predetermined objectives by exploiting weaknesses anywhere within an organization. It does not aim to provide a comprehensive list of vulnerabilities present.
The value of a red team lies in simulating real-world attacks on an organization and testing the response of the blue team. The red team’s tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) are modeled on those of actual malicious actors, exposing gaps in the security response.
The term “red teaming” originated from military exercises, where a group would simulate attack techniques to test the reaction capabilities of a defending team, or blue team, against known adversary strategies. In cybersecurity, red team engagements involve emulating real threat actors’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to measure the effectiveness of a blue team’s response and improve any security controls in place.
Red team engagements begin by defining specific objectives, which are often referred to as “crown jewels” or “flags.” These goals typically involve compromising critical systems or stealing sensitive information. To ensure unbiased analysis, the blue team is usually not informed of the exercise. The red team will attempt to achieve their goals while remaining undetected and bypassing security measures such as firewalls, antivirus software, and intrusion prevention systems.
It’s important to note that not all hosts on a network are checked for vulnerabilities during a red team engagement because a real attacker would only need to find one path to their objective and would avoid making detectable scans.
Roles and Responsibilities of the Red Team
The red team engagement involves multiple factors and individuals. The following table summarizes the roles and responsibilities of members within the red team.
| Role | Purpose |
| Red Team Lead | This role is responsible for the overall planning and organization of red team engagements, including delegating tasks to team members, assigning roles such as assistant lead and operator, and ensuring that the engagement runs smoothly. |
| Red Team Assistant Lead | The assistant lead in a red team engagement supports the team lead in supervising the operations and operators of the engagement. They may also be involved in creating the engagement plans and documentation as required. |
| Red Team Operator | Carries out tasks assigned by the team lead and interprets and analyzes engagement plans provided by the lead. |
The Process of Red Teaming
1. Planning and Scoping
This stage involves defining the objectives, scope, rules of engagement, and constraints of the red team exercise. It also involves selecting the red team members, defining the roles and responsibilities, and identifying the tools and techniques that will be used.
2. Reconnaissance
This stage involves collecting information about the target organization, including its infrastructure, applications, employees, and security controls. The red team uses open-source intelligence, social engineering, and other techniques to gather this information.
3. Vulnerability Assessment
This stage involves identifying vulnerabilities in the target organization’s systems, applications, and processes. The red team uses automated and manual tools to identify vulnerabilities that can be exploited to achieve the objectives of the exercise.
4. Exploitation
This stage involves attempting to exploit the identified vulnerabilities to achieve the objectives of the exercise. The red team uses various techniques, such as social engineering, phishing, and malware, to gain access to the target organization’s systems and data.
5. Post-Exploitation
This stage involves maintaining access to the target organization’s systems and data while avoiding detection. The red team uses various techniques, such as privilege escalation and lateral movement, to move laterally within the target organization’s network and access additional systems and data.
6. Reporting
This stage involves documenting the findings of the red team exercise, including the vulnerabilities that were identified, the techniques that were used, and the recommendations for improving the target organization’s security posture. The report should also include an executive summary that highlights the key findings and recommendations.
Why is Red Teaming Important?
Red teaming is important in cybersecurity because it helps organizations identify gaps in their security defenses, policies, and procedures by simulating real-world attack scenarios. By mimicking the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of a real attacker, red teams can provide insights into how well an organization’s security posture is working and identify potential vulnerabilities that may have been missed by traditional security assessments.
Red teaming also allows organizations to test the effectiveness of their incident response plans and blue team capabilities, helping to ensure that they are prepared to detect, respond, and recover from a real cyber attack. Overall, red teaming is a valuable tool for organizations to improve their security defenses and stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.
How Red Teaming Is Different From Penetration Testing?
Red teaming and penetration testing are both types of security assessments, but they have different goals and approaches.
Penetration testing is typically focused on finding and exploiting specific vulnerabilities in a system or network. It is usually a technical exercise that aims to identify weaknesses in the security controls of a system, and it provides a detailed report on the vulnerabilities found, along with recommendations for remediation.
On the other hand, red teaming is a more comprehensive and holistic approach to assessing security posture. It involves simulating a realistic attack scenario by adopting the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of real-world attackers. The goal of a red team is to test the effectiveness of the entire security infrastructure of an organization, including people, processes, and technology, by attempting to achieve a set of predefined objectives.
Unlike a penetration test, red teaming is not focused on finding specific vulnerabilities, but rather on assessing the effectiveness of the organization’s overall security posture and incident response capabilities.
To illustrate the difference between the two, consider a scenario where a company wants to test the security of its web application. A penetration test might involve using automated tools to scan the application for known vulnerabilities, attempting to exploit any vulnerabilities found, and providing a report of the findings.
In contrast, a red team engagement might involve a comprehensive attack simulation that involves social engineering, phishing, and other techniques to bypass the organization’s security controls and gain access to sensitive data.
Common Red Teaming Myths
Myth : Red teaming and penetration testing are the same thing.
Reality : While both involve testing an organization’s security defenses, red teaming goes beyond simply attempting to breach a system or network. Red teaming is a more comprehensive approach that involves simulating realistic attacks, testing multiple facets of an organization’s security posture, and identifying vulnerabilities in people, processes, and technology.
Myth: Red teaming is only about technical vulnerabilities.
Reality: Red teaming is not limited to identifying technical vulnerabilities only. It also involves testing an organization’s ability to detect, respond to, and recover from a security incident. Red teamers may use social engineering, physical security, or other non-technical tactics to gain access to sensitive information or assets.
Myth: Red teaming is a one-time exercise.
Reality: Red teaming is an ongoing process that should be integrated into an organization’s security program. It should be conducted regularly to assess the effectiveness of security controls and to identify new vulnerabilities as the threat landscape evolves.
Myth: Red teaming is a standalone activity.
Reality: Red teaming should be integrated into an organization’s overall security strategy and should be aligned with its goals and objectives. It should be conducted in conjunction with other security assessments, such as vulnerability scanning, penetration testing, and risk assessments.
Myth: Red teaming is only for large organizations.
Reality: Red teaming can benefit organizations of any size. Small and medium-sized businesses can also benefit from red teaming exercises to identify vulnerabilities in their security posture, improve incident response capabilities, and ensure compliance with industry regulations.
If you’d like to know more about what Red Teaming can do for your organization, please reach out to us, and we’ll do our best to assist your cybersecurity needs.
