Red team testing is a proactive and essential approach to modern cybersecurity, enabling organizations to simulate real-world cyberattacks, identify vulnerabilities, improve detection and response, educate employees, and meet compliance requirements. This comprehensive method ensures a stronger defense against sophisticated threats and enhances overall security readiness.
Cyber threats and crimes are on the rise, forcing organizations to invest more heavily in cyber security than ever before. The stakes have never been higher: for example, in 2023, some of the most common consequences of sensitive information loss were business disruption, damaged reputation, and regulatory fines.
Traditional security approaches worked once, but today’s attacks require a more proactive approach. This is where red team testing, or simply “red teaming”, comes into play. These simulated cyberattacks by ethical hackers test an organization’s defenses, thereby allowing an organization to patch identified issues before a potential attack can occur.
Red team testing goes beyond traditional audits and penetration tests, offering a comprehensive view of your organization’s ability to detect, respond to, and recover from advanced threats. In this guide, we’ll review how red teaming works, and why it’s a critical addition to all IT security teams.
Ethical hackers conduct red team testing to simulate an actual attack against an organization. Unlike pentesting, which tests only during a set period of time and with parameters, red team testing goes further.
These attacks mimic real-world cyber threats by emulating malicious actors’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Ultimately, the goal of red team testing is to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information as a way to pinpoint vulnerabilities the organization should fix.
The primary goal is to test how well the organization can detect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks. It evaluates the effectiveness of security controls, incident response teams, and detection mechanisms.
Red teams use methods such as phishing, social engineering, exploiting vulnerabilities, lateral movement, and privilege escalation to mimic advanced persistent threats (APTs). They usually test an organization’s blue team—an internal security and defense response team—and this interaction helps gauge the blue team's ability to detect and mitigate threats in real time.
Many organizations assume pentesting is enough to spot gaps in their security, but penetration testing doesn’t always tell the whole story. As such, organizations of all sizes can benefit from implementing red team testing.
The biggest benefit of red team testing is identifying security gaps long before an attack by malicious actors can occur.
The red team uncovers security vulnerabilities such as:
At the end of the exercise, the red team produces a list of their findings, along with recommendations the organization can implement to improve security.
Red teams are most effective when they work with a blue team, and if you’re investing in internal protections like SIEM and other monitoring tools, red team testing tells you whether these processes are effective.
This type of testing also assesses the organization’s ability to respond to real-time incidents, identifying gaps in incident response protocols.
Red team testers use up-to-date tricks used by real attackers. They use advanced, persistent threats to provide a realistic assessment of how well the organization can defend itself against real threat scenarios.
Cyber security is only as strong as its weakest link, and human error is often the weakest point in any cyber security plan. A recent study by Stanford University demonstrated that 88% of breaches resulted from human risk factors.
Red team testing includes social engineering attacks to help educate employees about common attack methods and foster a culture of security awareness.
If your organization is subject to security assessments, red team testing can often satisfy this requirement. Not only does it demonstrate due diligence with cyber security, but it also helps meet compliance requirements for PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and more.
Red teaming is a crucial addition to modern cyber security for businesses of all sizes. Malicious actors are using increasingly sophisticated methods to gain access to your systems, and by simulating real-world attacks, red teams can provide organizations with invaluable insights into their vulnerabilities, detection capabilities, and incident response readiness.
Proper testing is necessary for all your organization’s systems—including artificial intelligence (AI)—and Mindgard’s red teaming solution for AI systems can uncover vulnerabilities only experts can find. Book a Mindgard demo today to safeguard your AI against cyber threats.
Red team testing should happen on at least an annual basis. However, it’s wise to conduct these tests more frequently if you’re in a highly regulated industry, recently changed your business, or deployed new software.
Red teaming is supposed to be minimally disruptive. However, some activities, like simulated phishing attacks, can temporarily affect operations. While this approach can help identify weaknesses, it’s critical to set parameters for the red team to prevent them from causing significant disruptions.
Successful red team exercises identify unnoticed vulnerabilities. They should also improve your detection and response times and provide actionable insights to strengthen your defense even more. Ultimately, you want to see an improvement in security posture over time, verified through follow-up tests.
