What is red teaming?

Red teaming

Introduction to red teaming

Red teaming is a structured, adversarial approach to assessing an organisation’s security posture by simulating real-world attacks. Originally developed for military use, red teaming has evolved over time and is now widely adopted in cybersecurity to proactively identify and exploit potential weaknesses in a system. The goal is to mimic the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of potential attackers, thereby helping organisations strengthen their defences before a real attack occurs. Red teaming goes beyond conventional vulnerability assessments and penetration testing by focusing on an organisation’s people, processes, and technologies holistically.

Background

The concept of red teaming originated in military settings as a way to challenge strategies and tactics. By assigning a team to adopt the perspective of an adversary, decision-makers were able to better understand potential weaknesses in their plans. In cybersecurity, red teaming first emerged as an advanced method of testing that could better replicate the full spectrum of modern threats. Today, red teaming is commonly used by organisations seeking to validate their security defences, understand how well they could detect and respond to an attack, and assess their overall resilience.

Purpose and goals

Red teaming aims to identify weaknesses, test detection capabilities, and improve response strategies. By emulating a real attacker’s approach, red teaming provides a comprehensive assessment of an organization’s resilience.

Red team steps

• Planning and objective setting: Define the goals and scope of the red team engagement, including specific assets to target and rules of engagement.
• Reconnaissance: Gather information about the target organization to identify potential vulnerabilities. This includes both passive and active information gathering techniques.
• Initial access: Attempt to gain entry into the organization’s systems through identified vulnerabilities, such as exploiting software flaws or using social engineering tactics.
• Lateral movement: Once inside, move through the network to access additional systems and data, escalating privileges as necessary.
• Persistence: Establish mechanisms to maintain access over time, ensuring the ability to return to compromised systems even after reboots or other interruptions.
• Exfiltration and impact assessment: Simulate the extraction of sensitive data or other actions that could harm the organization to assess potential impacts.
• Reporting and debriefing: Document the findings, including vulnerabilities exploited and the potential impact, and provide recommendations for remediation.

These steps help organizations identify and address security weaknesses before they can be exploited by malicious actors.

Uniquenress of red teaming exercise

A red teaming exercise is unique for every organization because it is tailored to address the specific assets, architecture, industry, and threat landscape of that organization. Unlike standard penetration testing, which often follows a predictable set of steps, red teaming is adaptive and customized to simulate the most realistic threats an organization might face.

Each organization has different high-value assets, such as intellectual property, customer data, or proprietary technology, which determine the primary targets in a red teaming exercise. Additionally, the organization’s structure—whether it’s a small startup, a large corporation, or a government agency—shapes both the attack methods and the defensive capabilities being tested.

Furthermore, red teaming exercises consider an organization’s industry and typical adversaries. For example, a financial institution might face sophisticated phishing and fraud schemes, while a healthcare provider may be more vulnerable to ransomware targeting patient data. The organization’s regulatory requirements, user base, and even geographical location also influence the threats it needs to guard against, making each red teaming exercise a bespoke process designed to uncover risks that are most relevant to that specific environment.

In summary, a red teaming exercise is not a one-size-fits-all approach; it’s an adaptive, scenario-driven process that evolves based on an organization’s unique characteristics, helping to provide a truly comprehensive and realistic assessment of its security resilience.

Conclusion

At its core, red teaming is a hands-on, custom approach to security that dives deeper than typical assessments. It’s all about understanding the real threats an organization might face and tailoring the testing to its unique setup, assets, and challenges. Red teaming offers meaningful insights—not just on where vulnerabilities lie, but on how well the organization can respond when it counts. By focusing on realistic scenarios, it helps build a stronger, more resilient defense against the kinds of attacks that are most likely to happen. For any organization committed to staying ahead of security risks, red teaming is an essential step in taking control of its defenses

Red teaming is a cybersecurity practice that simulates attacks on a system to identify vulnerabilities and improve security. It involves professionals with diverse backgrounds, who try to exploit weaknesses in a system, just as a malicious attacker would. By exposing vulnerabilities through red teaming, organizations can take proactive steps to strengthen their security posture and protect their valuable assets.

In a typical red team exercise, the red team works alongside with a blue team, which is responsible for defending the system. The blue team uses a variety of tools and techniques to detect and respond to attacks. A third team, often called the white team, oversees the entire exercise and ensures that it is conducted ethically and responsibly and during escalation(s), they act as mediators, providing guidance, approving critical actions, and ensuring that the exercise stays within defined boundaries.

By working together, the red, blue, and white teams can help organizations identify and address security weaknesses before they can be exploited by real-world attackers.