If you’ve ever enquired about testing services on your organisation’s infrastructure, you might have been presented with terms including red team, blue team, and purple team. Whilst each testing approach has a different methodology, they ultimately aim to bolster your organisation’s security defences and support your efforts with defending against cyber attacks and data breaches.
In this blog, we’ll dive into the purpose of a red team, blue team, and purple team, their differences, and how these can improve your cyber security measures.
What is red teaming?
Red teaming, or a red team assessment, is a threat-led penetration test that simulates a genuine attack through a combination of hacking tactics, tools, and techniques to access your company’s systems and data.
Unlike traditional penetration testing services – which includes the involvement of your IT team, company asset information, and allocated timeframes – a red team assessment is performed over a longer period (usually over several weeks) without the input of awareness of your IT team. Red teaming also includes attack vectors such as social engineering, tailgating, and phishing, exploiting your company’s policies and procedures to gain initial access.
Whilst regular penetration testing services can provide you with detailed information regarding your existing vulnerabilities, a red team assessment can provide insight into your organisation’s overall security posture including detection and response capabilities, logical and physical security, cyber security awareness, and best practice.
Ultimately, red teaming is a simulated, real-world attack that challenges and exploits the various layers of security defences your organisation has in place.
How red teaming can improve your cyber security measures
Compared to penetration testing, a red team assessment requires a higher level of investment from a financial, time, and resource capacity. However, a red team assessment is a great way to improve your cyber security posture, and remember, the cost of a cyber attack will always outweigh the cost of effective cyber security measures.
Identifies weaknesses and strengths within your organisation
A red team assessment provides you with insights into the existing vulnerabilities in your policies, people, and systems. This will identify areas for improvement and confirms the effectiveness of your security controls and what is working well at keeping you protected.
Improves your responsiveness to genuine attacks
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is crucial in remaining one step ahead of malicious actors looking to compromise your business. A red team assessment will challenge your organisation’s incident response plan as well as your security defences to ensure you’re prepared in the event of a genuine attack.
Ensures your business remains compliant
No matter your organisation’s size or sector, you’re responsible for the appropriate handling and protection of sensitive information in line with GDPR. Red team assessments can support your business with identifying gaps in your defences and processes, allowing you to remediate these and remain compliant.
What is the difference between a red team and a blue team?
While red teaming poses as the offense, blue teaming is the defence. Most organisations will have some form of blue team capabilities; this can include incident response consultants, SoC analysts, or members of your IT team. A blue team assessment involves providing vulnerability remediation guidance, knowledge, and expertise to your organisation’s internal capacity.
Blue team roles
- Monitors networks to identify emerging vulnerabilities and report any suspicious activity.
- Responds to cyber incidents.
- Analyses malware for signatures to update anti-viruses.
The purpose of a blue team is to detect, mitigate, and prevent cyber incidents by assessing the organisation’s security approach across people, processes, and technologies, categorising any existing threats and address them, accordingly. This is then followed with a full cyber security strategy catered to your organisation’s specific needs and requirements.
Red team assessment examples
- Penetration testing is a simulated attack on a company’s systems to identify and exploit vulnerabilities.
- Social engineering involves exploiting human behaviour to deceive them into providing sensitive information.
Blue team assessment examples
- Incident response exercises including tabletop scenarios, allowing businesses to identify areas for improvement, current processes, and key stakeholders.
- Gap analysis evaluates existing defences and provides recommendations to improve their effectiveness.
Purple teaming: a collaborative approach to cyber security
Purple teaming is a combination of both red team and blue team which aims to provide your organisation with a deeper understanding of your security landscape. Purple teaming is a collaborative approach with both the offensive and defensive working in unison to identify and exploit vulnerabilities, whilst simultaneously improving security defences.
Purple team assessments provide the same benefits as both red and blue teaming, by enhancing threat detection and response capabilities, as well as establishing a continuous feedback loop that adapts to the ever-evolving threat landscape. Purple teaming ensure that the organisation’s defences are always a step ahead of potential threats, leading to a more resilient and secure environment.
Penetration testing services are a great way to identify vulnerabilities, protect your data, and meet security requirements. Delivered by our team of CREST-certified ethical hackers, we conduct testing of your website, network infrastructure, mobile apps, IoT devise, and even physical security.
With simple reporting and remediation guidance, our recommended improvements protect sensitive internal data, your clients’ data, and the infrastructure system which support it all. For more information on our penetration testing services, speak to a member of our team today on 0333 323 3981 or contact us here.
