If you want to combat against today’s dangerous and constantly evolving threat landscape, you’ll need to use every cybersecurity tool at your disposal.
Simply relying on firewalls and antivirus software is not enough to keep motivated hackers out of your IT environment.
As part of a strong security posture, you’ll want to consider red team vs. blue team exercises.
So, what are they, and how can they help improve your security stance?
Let’s break it down.
What Are Red and Blue Teams?
Red teams and blue teams represent the two competing forces involved in a cyberattack. Think of it as offense vs. defense.
A red team is a group of skilled technical personnel you hire to ‘attack’ your systems. Their goal is to carry out a successful cyberattack or intrusion on a specific target in your organization’s computing environment.
As part of this, they’ll employ similar techniques and methods to those used by actual threat actors. This helps to replicate a real attack as closely as possible.
The blue team is tasked with defending your organization’s IT environment from the simulated attack of the red team.
The team is usually comprised of technical personnel from within the organization whose cybersecurity posture is being tested. Ideally, they have deep knowledge of the application or system under attack by the red team, and understand how to effectively protect it.
What is a Red Team vs. Blue Team Exercise?
A red team vs. blue team exercise is performed by organizations that want to verify the strength of their security of specific elements in their IT environment.
It pits the skills of the respective teams against each other, with the goal of identifying security gaps which may allow exploitation by criminal hackers.
Now, when organizing a red team vs. blue team exercise, it’s important to define a distinct goal. It’s not meant to be a comprehensive test of your company’s cybersecurity defenses.
Rather, it should focus on a particularly important system or valuable data resource that may make an attractive target for cybercriminals.
The exercise is typically conducted for an extended time and with certain parameters under which the teams are expected to operate.
For instance, the red team may be prohibited from attacking production systems where they can negatively impact the business. The exercise is concluded when the allotted time has expired or the red team successfully compromises the target.
The Business Benefits of a Red Team vs. Blue Team Exercise
The objective of a red team vs. blue team exercise is to identify any potential security vulnerabilities which can be exploited by cybercriminals. A company can expect several benefits no matter which team comes out ahead.
- Identified security vulnerabilities can be effectively addressed before they are exploited and cause damage to the IT environment.
- Blue team cybersecurity personnel can use the exercise as a training opportunity that gives them the chance to gain experience in defending the infrastructure.
- Organizations can evaluate response capabilities and improve them if necessary to better deal with a successful attack.
- The results of the exercise and the insights they provide can be used to demonstrate compliance with regulatory standards like PCI-DSS.
Engaging a Reliable and Skilled Red Team
So, who do you turn to for expert red teaming skills or advice?
Blue Bastion, along with the support of our networking division, Ideal Integrations, can help.
Blue Bastion offers our customers access to a skilled red team that can help identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before they become exploited by malicious threat actors.
The activities performed by the red team include internal and external vulnerability assessment, as well as penetration testing of the select targets. We’ll also look at the implications of attacks which use social engineering, and can perform breach simulations to test your organization’s response measures in a controlled setting.
For a no-obligation consultation, simply contact our team at 412-349-6680, or fill out the form below, and discover how our red team can help you strengthen your cybersecurity posture and identify vulnerabilities before you become a victim.
Call our team at 412-349-6680 or fill out the form below and our team of cybersecurity experts will create and execute the ultimate security plan to protect your organization.
And, as always, stay vigilant.
