Red team security testing is a comprehensive and multi-layered attack against an organization’s security infrastructure, applications, and controls. Unlike traditional penetration testing, red teaming aims to replicate the techniques, tactics, and procedures used by real-world attackers. The objective of a red team assessment is to verify how well the organization’s defenses are prepared for a motivated adversary.

During a red team engagement, attackers aim to simulate a real-world attack by targeting the entire organization, including the human factor, without prior knowledge of its internal operations. The attack surface is not restricted to specific applications or networks, but encompasses the entirety of the organization. To achieve their objective of remaining undetected, the red team employs tactics and techniques consistent with those utilized by actual adversaries, as documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework, minimizing their activity’s noise level.

The red team’s primary objective is not to find as many vulnerabilities as possible, but to achieve a specific goal, such as accessing a particular piece of information stored on a specified target or testing whether the Security Operations Center (SOC) can detect and control such attacks.

Red team assignments have a longer-term nature due to the requirement to maintain a certain level of stealth and remain undetected by the security team. A successful red team project may result in the full compromise of the target organization’s network and application-level security, granting the attackers full access to any information stored within the organization.

It is important to note that a successful red team attack only means that the team was able to reach its objectives, but it does not imply that there is no alternative scenario that could also lead to a full compromise of an organization’s security. Red teaming provides a comprehensive and realistic assessment of an organization’s security posture, highlighting areas where security measures need to be improved. It enables organizations to take proactive measures and improve their security infrastructure and defenses.

The red teaming process typically involves the following steps:

• Intelligence gathering: The red team gathers information about the target organization, including its employees, network infrastructure, and security controls.
• Scanning and enumeration: The team conducts reconnaissance and scans the organization’s network to identify vulnerabilities and entry points.
• Initial access: The red team gains access to the target organization’s network and establishes a foothold in the system.
• Escalation of privileges: The attackers try to gain administrative or superuser access to the network or application.
• Lateral movement: The red team moves laterally within the network to identify additional entry points and gather more information.
• Persistence: The attackers maintain their access to the system even after their initial foothold has been detected and remediated.
• Data exfiltration: The red team exfiltrates data from the target organization, which could include sensitive corporate data, personally identifiable information (PII), or financial information.
• Reporting: The red team provides a comprehensive report on their findings, including details of any vulnerabilities discovered, and recommendations for improving the organization’s security posture.

Red teaming services provide comprehensive and realistic testing of an organization’s security infrastructure, applications, and controls by replicating the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) used by real-world attackers. Through this multi-layered approach, red teaming helps identify vulnerabilities and security gaps that traditional security assessments may miss, with the goal of providing actionable recommendations to improve an organization’s overall security posture. While red teaming engagements require longer-term planning and execution, they can help organizations better understand their security risk and provide a roadmap for addressing security weaknesses.