What is Red Teaming and How Does It Work?
Cybersecurity red teaming tests security by simulating non-destructive attacks to identify system vulnerabilities. Red teams use adversarial methods to address cognitive biases and improve defenses.
These flaws can influence the critical thinking or decision-making abilities of an organization or an individual. Red teaming realistically evaluates the quality of strategies by involving an external perspective.
This article sums up different perspectives on this strategy and its operational process. Let’s kick-start the exploratory phase for productive insights.
What is Red Team Testing?
Table of Contents
Among different cyber attacks, adversarial-level ransomware is higher on the threat meter. According to the IBM Threat Index report, ransomware attack execution time has shrunk by 94%. The red teaming process provides a smooth gateway to proactive enumeration, understanding and addressing the security glitches before cyber threat actors can exploit them. Using an adversarial lens can help them actively identify the security errors that real actors are most likely to abuse.
Let’s keep it straight: red teaming assessment is a type of ethical hacking. Security professionals emulate the tricks, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of real cybercriminals. Ethical hackers leverage the same tools as real cyber attackers, but their objective makes the difference.
Red team experts follow a stringent code of conduct to identify the adversary’s perspective and improve network security. Red team vulnerability assessment is professional and only proceeds after obtaining permission from organizations.
Planning and Preparation
In a holistic view, red teams employ sensitive assets for simulation attacks to gauge the depth of malicious hackers after proper planning. This helps them understand how hackers can damage a system in the real world. The best simulations can prove effective for Network Service Exploitation.
Expose Real World Adversaries
During a red teaming practice, the team members leverage simulated composite attacks and reconnaissance tools to mimic advanced persistent threats and examine the security posture of the systems. The real strength of the systems is unveiled by exposing the systems to cyber adversaries.
Clean Closure
These organized simulated attacks in the red teaming process help determine how perfect an organization’s risk management systems are. People, testing processes, and technologies might defy or strictly respond to different cyberattacks.
Red team practices are mostly time-bound for quick results. Sometimes, a test might last for longer. The team always begins the process with detailed research of the target system, including open-source intelligence, public information, and more without causing any harm to the system.
Common Targets of Red Team Simulated Attacks
The red team launches organized simulated attacks against multifaceted points in the system’s attack surface, including application layer exploitation and physical facility exploitation. Different attack vectors play their roles targeting the following:
- Datasets supporting ML and AI apps
- Mobile devices and workstations
- AI systems and ML models
- Systems firewalls
- EDR systems for attack
- Intrusion detection systems
- Extended detection and response (XDR) systems
- Web servers and web applications
- SOAR systems
There are two key teams: an enemy who attacks and the other is a defender. Red team launches simulated attacks, whereas the defender teams serve as the system’s shield. Red teams get around the blue team’s defense mechanisms to assess how they do so. The red team documents every finding about vulnerabilities for phishing emails and other social engineering attacks coupled with mitigation strategies. The last step is about providing the end results to the IT and security teams.
Red Teaming: Tools, Techniques, and Engagements
In the black and red teaming, employ the simulated black box methodology to expose the real-world gaps to further investigate an organization’s security structure.
Get to know some red teaming tools and techniques below:
- Physical Security Testing: An organization’s physical security controls, including alarms and surveillance systems, are ready to test.
- Application Pen Testing: Screening of web apps to identify security bugs related to coding errors, such as fatal SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
- Social Engineering: Phishing, smishing, spear phishing, whale phishing and cross-site request forgery (CSRF) to obtain vulnerable data or gain access to business systems from unsuspecting corporate members.
- Brute Forcing Credentials: Organized password guessing action by trying credentials employed for previous breaches, commonly used passcode testing lists or by using automated scripts.
- Tainting Added Content: Upload content onto a device’s network drive. Another way is to add data on shared storage locations containing malware or other vulnerable code. As an unsuspecting user opens it, the malicious code runs. It enables the attacker to move laterally.
- Network Monitoring: Another key simulated tactic is to monitor traffic flow on the network for information about a system. It can be related to configuration details and other sensitive user credentials.
What is Continuous Automated Red Teaming (CART)?
Red teaming helps to strengthen organizational security posture but this process can pose critical challenges to security teams. Budget and length of time are the biggest hurdles while conducting a red team exercise. Typically, red team engagements can perform periodically at best. It only provides quality insights into the cybersecurity setup of an organization. The problem emerges when the business’s security posture responds outstandingly at the time but does not remain that way. Let’s peep into the quality solutions being offered by CART.
- Organizations can assess security posture in real-time
- Leverages automation to explore assets, spotlight vulnerabilities and launch attacks
- Industry experts employ leading-edge tools for this process
- Automated CART makes red teaming extra accessible
- It provides mind peace to the security team for smooth testing
Red, Blue, and Purple Teams: A Comprehensive Perspective
All these test teams are named and modeled after rigorous military exercises. Before real battles and to test their strength, simulations are run to check the effectiveness of their defense strategies. In these simulated practices, red teams play the abusive role, while the other team works on the defensive side, protecting their position. In the cybersecurity arena, the roles of these test teams are similar, but the battle is on the digital front.
Red Testing Team
The security professionals in this team thoroughly test an organization’s security posture. They use simulated tools and techniques similar to real-world attacks and employ stringent strategies to bypass the blue team’s defenses without being detected. The prime goal of this team is to know how a malicious action might fulfil its target against a particular device.
Blue Testing Team
This internal IT security team plays a defensive role. It tends to shield an organization’s system and vulnerable data from the simulated attackers of red teams. Blue teams leverage advanced cybersecurity solutions to secure the organization’s systems. Their tasks include assessing systems for intrusion signs, alert investigation and launching incident response.
Purple Testing Team
This team is not separate but shares a cooperative bridge between red teamers and blue teamers. Both key teams work together to upgrade the company’s security setup. The purple team is to offer efficient collaboration between the two teams, including the other stakeholders. It also offers mitigation strategies and remediation guidance to take the organization’s cybersecurity setup to the next level of improvement.
Pen Test vs Red Teaming
Red teaming and professional penetration testing are distinct but almost overlapping processes for the evaluation of the system’s security.
- As red teaming, pen testing employs hacking tools to trace the loopholes in a system. Red teaming is more scenario-based, creating a key difference between the two.
- Red team exercises are more time-bound and more active against the defensive blue team. The emulation of real-world adversaries is the real goal. Pen tests are more traditional and utilize hacking techniques against a system to assess which ones properly work and which one’s deviate.
- Pen testing revolves around the detection of potential vulnerabilities in a system. The red team assists organizations in knowing how their security systems perform in real-world cyber-attacks.
- Both involve ethical hacking to help organizations upscale their security posture. These certified ethical hackers can also conduct malware analysis and other data-based security services.
What are the Types of Red Teaming?
Red teaming is swiftly growing in all sectors. There is a wide assortment of red teaming considering the organizational needs and budget. Some of them are listed below to make the choice easier for you.
- Red Teaming Core
- Advanced Red Teaming
- Red Teaming Pro
- Red Teaming Modular
- TIBER Approach
- Red Teaming In OT
- Tabletop Cyber Crisis Management Workshop
What Should Be the Next Course of Action?
Organizations should leverage effective IT solutions against cyber threats. The red teaming method offers a reliable, scenario-based testing methodology. Every organization should conduct red team assessments with all stakeholders involved for robust threat mitigation.
Facing IT Challenges in Chicago?
Schedule a consultation with our expert team to get the help you need!
Related Articles
Colocation: A Strategic Lever in Project Management
Leading Benefits of IoT Integration Services
