Phishing scams, malware, DDoS attacks, and other adversarial actions cost organizations time and money, not to mention reputational harm. Many organizations are now embracing a more advanced approach to cybersecurity that mimics an attacker’s mindset. 

Red teaming exercises are a valuable way to proactively spot and mitigate weaknesses before an actual attack happens. However, red teams can’t operate in a vacuum, and to stay ahead of attackers, it’s crucial to understand the distinct roles of red teams, blue teams, and purple teams. 

These specialized groups work together to simulate, defend against, and improve cyberattack responses, forming the backbone of an effective security strategy.

In this guide, we’ll break down the roles, responsibilities, and objectives of red, blue, and purple teams, explore how they work together, and explain why their collaboration is vital for cybersecurity.

What Is a Red Team?

A red team is a group of ethical hackers who emulate an adversary’s strategies to find vulnerabilities in an organization’s systems. Unlike penetration testing, red teaming is a more holistic methodology that stress-tests defenses and provides feedback.

Red team responsibilities include:

• Simulating threats: They conduct realistic attack simulations to emulate potential adversaries' tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
• Assessing physical security: Physical security is an important but often unaddressed risk factor. Red teams also test the organization’s physical safeguards, such as access controls, badge systems, and secured areas.
• Documenting findings: After conducting test attacks, the red team shares their findings with other stakeholders, including the blue team, to improve the organization’s defenses. 

What Is a Blue Team?

If the red team plays offense, the blue team defends your organization from potential threats, both during red teaming exercises and in daily business. Blue teams detect vulnerabilities, respond to attacks, and strengthen your cybersecurity posture.

Blue team responsibilities include:

• Defense planning: Blue teams develop policies and controls to prevent the red team (and real attackers) from accessing sensitive data and systems. They use information provided from red teaming exercises, as well as their knowledge of modern threats, to improve security. 
• Incident response: If a breach occurs, the blue team springs into action. They respond to security incidents by investigating, containing, and mitigating attacks to minimize damage.
• Training employees: Human error is a tremendous risk factor. It’s up to the blue team to educate and test employees on security best practices.

What Is a Purple Team?

Red and blue teams are more well-known in cybersecurity, but some organizations have purple teams instead. A purple team encompasses the responsibilities and activities of both the red and blue teams, and plays both defense and offense to improve the organization’s security posture. 

The purple team fosters collaboration between these traditionally separate functions, removing blind spots. Although members of the red and blue teams usually join the purple team, it isn’t uncommon for organizations to have dedicated purple team members.

Purple team responsibilities include:

• Collaboration: The purple team facilitates communication between the red and blue teams. This strategy ensures that offensive and defensive efforts are aligned before and during a test. 
• Improving defenses: The purple team analyzes red team findings to identify weaknesses and provide actionable insights to the blue team. They also ensure that blue team responses are tested and optimized against realistic attack scenarios.
• Creating feedback loops: The purple team monitors the performance of both red and blue teams to measure their effectiveness.

Key Differences Between Red, Blue, and Purple Teams

Red, blue, and purple teams have unique responsibilities that provide more value and structure to attack simulations. The red team simulates an attack, and the blue team defends against it. 

While they aren’t technically necessary, a purple team strengthens this dynamic by sharing lessons learned, addressing gaps, and improving both teams’ techniques for the next test.

Together, these teams form a dynamic and iterative process. Red teams identify weaknesses, blue teams defend against threats, and purple teams ensure that insights from both are integrated to create a continuous loop of improvement, resulting in a stronger and more resilient security posture.

Securing AI Platforms with Red, Blue, and Purple Teaming

As generative AI platforms become more sophisticated, so do the security risks associated with them. These systems can be vulnerable to adversarial attacks, data poisoning, prompt injections, and model manipulation. 

To safeguard AI-driven applications, organizations can apply red, blue, and purple teaming strategies to proactively identify and mitigate security threats. Here’s how. 

Red Teaming for Generative AI 

Red teams simulate real-world attacks on AI models to uncover weaknesses. This includes: 

• Adversarial testing - Crafting malicious inputs to manipulate AI outputs, such as prompt injection attacks. 
• Model extraction attacks - Attempting to reverse-engineer AI models to expose proprietary data. 
• Data poisoning simulations - Testing how manipulated training data can impact model integrity. 
  

By stress-testing generative AI models, red teams help identify exploitable vulnerabilities before attackers can take advantage of them. Continuous automated red teaming (CART) takes it a step further by running 24/7 to provide real-time insights into your company’s security posture. 

Blue Teaming for Generative AI

Blue teams are responsible for reinforcing AI security by:

• Monitoring AI behavior - Detecting anomalies, biased outputs, and unauthorized access attempts.
• Developing defense mechanisms - Implementing security controls like input filtering and authentication layers to prevent adversarial manipulation.
• Incident response for AI threats - Quickly identifying and mitigating security breaches in AI-generated outputs.
  

By continuously improving defenses, blue teams help secure generative AI applications against real-world threats.

Purple Teaming for Generative AI

Purple teams ensure that red and blue teams collaborate effectively to enhance AI security. They:

• Facilitate knowledge sharing - Bridging the gap between attack simulation (red team) and defense mechanisms (blue team).
• Optimize AI security controls - Ensuring that red team insights directly improve blue team defenses.
• Create adaptive security strategies - Refining AI protection methods based on real-world attack data and emerging threats.
  

By integrating offensive and defensive strategies, purple teams strengthen the resilience of generative AI platforms against evolving security challenges.

Uniting Teams for Stronger Cybersecurity

Red, blue, and purple teams each play an important role in the cybersecurity testing process. These teams provide a comprehensive approach to identifying and addressing vulnerabilities by focusing on offense, defense, and collaboration. 

Still, attack simulations require time and resources. Allow your team to focus on what matters most by relying on Mindgard for AI-powered red teaming. Our expert team simulates adversarial attacks to uncover vulnerabilities in your AI models, data pipelines, and deployment strategies. 

By stress-testing your systems against real-world threats, Mindgard can help you identify weaknesses and build resilience before malicious actors can exploit them. Stay ahead of evolving threats—book a demo now. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes red teaming for AI different from traditional red teaming?

Red teaming for AI focuses specifically on vulnerabilities in artificial intelligence systems. While traditional red teaming evaluates general security measures, AI red teaming tools tailor simulations to test AI algorithms, data integrity, and decision-making processes under real-world threat scenarios.

How does a blue team differ from a red team?

While a red team focuses on offense by simulating attacks, a blue team is responsible for defense. Blue teams monitor, detect, and respond to threats. They maintain the organization’s security and respond to any vulnerabilities discovered by the red team.

What is the purpose of a purple team?

A purple team bridges the gap between the red and blue teams, facilitating collaboration and communication. Its purpose is to ensure that the red team's findings improve the blue team’s defenses.