What is Red Teaming?

In a world where new cyberthreats are being developed and released each day, it is important to ensure the cybersecurity and physical security measures at organizations and businesses are effective and thorough. This article will explain what red teaming is, how SECURNITE approaches red teaming and what the benefits of red teaming are for organizations.

What is Red Teaming?

Red teaming is when a group of cybersecurity professionals, or ethical hackers, are hired to assess and test the security, both digital and physical, of an organization using real world methods used by threat actors. The goal of red teaming is to identify the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in an organization’s security infrastructure, networks and personnel while also testing existing security measures. Ethical hackers will pose as legitimate threat actors and will conduct a real-world simulation of an attack strategy to infiltrate an organization. These strategies can include:

• Physically breaching the organization.
• Phishing E-Mails.
• Social engineering tactics.
• Exploiting the network, etc.

The red teaming exercise is planned and implemented by the team of ethical hackers so they can achieve a specific objective in a certain time frame. Once the attack and infiltration are complete, a review of all that was gathered via these red teaming strategies is performed. The information is then shared with the client for them to improve their security measures against an attack by legitimate threat actors.

Who needs Red Teaming?

Red teaming is suitable for organizations whose physical security and cybersecurity measures are new to test the effectiveness of these measures against attack. Red teaming is also suitable for organizations with mature physical security and cybersecurity measures to assess vulnerabilities that need to be closed or fixed. The red teaming will determine how far threat actors can reach in an organization before the security measures stop them. Therefore, the only way to test these measures is to implement a red teaming exercise.

How SECURNITE’s Red Teaming Exercises Are Planned

At SECURNITE, red teaming starts with a request from a client. Oftentimes the client will become aware of a potential risk and will contact SECURNITE to determine whether their security protocols are effective. A red teaming exercise is then custom made according to the needs of the client.

Phase 1 of the Red Teaming Plan

On Day 1, the first step in a red teaming exercise is scouting the location and building to determine what the risks are, if any, to locate potential points of entry and gather intelligence. This is important as this information can be used by threat actors to access the organization.

The team will come together and develop a plan to infiltrate the premises of the organization and get access to the network, applications or even devices. The plan needs to allow room for any unexpected incidents that could happen but also ensure the objective of the exercise is met. However, a simple plan also requires quick thinking for the cybersecurity professionals doing the red teaming exercise. They need to be able to adapt to any input they receive from an organization’s employees to determine if they can infiltrate the organization.

Day 2 of the red teaming exercise will start with implementing phase 1 of the plan that was developed the previous afternoon. This will include a way to physically enter the premises and leave behind devices that can be used to infiltrate the network.

Once done, the team gathers for a meeting to determine how effective the physical intrusion was and how effective the drop-off was of the various devices. This will include the information that was gathered at the entrance to the premises, the reaction of reception and staff, the access controls the organization has, etc.

Phase 2 of the Red Teaming Plan

Following this meeting, phase 2 of the plan is implemented which includes a completely different method of entry. This is to determine the success of the physical security of the location and the access controls they have in place. If the second attempt at infiltration is successful, further assessments will be made on the network, personnel, and applications.

Once done, another meeting is held with the team to discuss phase 2 of the red teaming exercise, how effective it was and what was learned or what information was gathered.

The following day, once the red teaming exercise is complete, the devices are collected from the organization. All the data that was gathered, or vulnerabilities identified will be reported to the client. The client will have the opportunity to act on the report and fix the vulnerabilities that were identified by the team, as well as implement effective security strategies and plans in case of a legitimate attack by threat actors.

Benefits of Red Teaming for Organizations

Red teaming is highly recommended by SECURNITE and other cybersecurity professionals to ensure an organization has effective and thorough security measures to protect their assets and vulnerabilities against attack. Some benefits to red teaming include:

• Identification of vulnerabilities in the organization.
• Assessment of organization’s detection and response to attack.
• Evaluation of effectiveness of current security measures.
• Training and education for staff about cybersecurity risks and methods.

Red teaming is an effective way to assess an organization’s preparedness for attack by threat actors. It is an exercise used by many cybersecurity professionals to determine whether an organization’s assets and vulnerabilities are effectively protected and how prepared they are for an attack. If the organization is not prepared, recommendations and suggestions can be made to help them improve their cybersecurity strategy and protocols.

Conclusion: Red Teaming is an important cybersecurity measure

To conclude, red teaming is when cybersecurity professionals, or ethical hackers, are hired to test an organization’s security measures against attack. The red teaming exercise will include various ways to infiltrate an organization, such as physically breaching the location, phishing E-Mails, social engineering or infiltrating the network. The exercise will be implemented over a few days, with meetings in between to ensure the objective of the exercise is being met. SECURNITE has a custom approach to red teaming depending on the needs of the client. Some of the benefits of red teaming include identifying vulnerabilities in the organization and evaluating the effectiveness of the organization’s current security measures.

If you want to learn more about how SECURNITE does red teaming, contact us for more information.