cybersecurity

A simulated cyber attack on your business

Red Team Exercises

A red team exercise is a full-scope, multi-layered attack simulation designed to measure how well your company’s people, networks, applications, and physical security controls can withstand an attack from a real-life adversary.

a image showing a network attack alert as a visual representation of a red team engagement

Ensuring readiness before any actual impact

A Strategic Attack Simulation

A red team exercise is a strategic simulation meticulously crafted to replicate real-world cyber threats targeting your business. It’s a comprehensive test that identifies vulnerabilities and fortifies your organization’s defense mechanisms. In short, the primary objective is to bolster your organization’s resilience against ever-evolving cyber threats, ensuring readiness before any actual business impact.

Threat intelligence driven simulations

Methodical Approach and Execution

Guided by seasoned cybersecurity professionals, this exercise is customized to align with your organization’s maturity and specific objectives. We utilize informed attack chain simulations, based on thorough threat intelligence and an understanding of your business processes.

Truesec Security Operation Center - SOC Managed Detection and response

Mastering cyber defense

Tactical Attacks To Build Resistance

Each phase of these chains involves multiple tactics and techniques, accurately emulated by our offensive team. This systematic emulation is crucial for detection teams, enabling precise identification of your security coverage’s efficacy. Simultaneously allowing digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) personnel to rigorously test and refine their protocols to combat future cyber threats effectively.

Operates on a need-to-know basis

Focused and Discreet Operation

This exercise transcends the conventional scope of identifying potential threats; it focuses on pinpointing and preparing for actual, credible threats. To ensure the integrity and effectiveness of the exercise, its details are confined to a select group within your organization – the ‘white team‘. This team is instrumental in maintaining control over the exercise and accurately assessing the internal response to these simulated threats.

Winning together

Collaborative Impact Goal Setting

A unique aspect of our red team exercise involves setting specific impact goals in collaboration with your organization. These goals, ranging from detecting simulated financial fraud to responding to fake ransomware attacks, are crafted to provide realistic yet controlled scenarios. Our approach ensures not just a test of your defenses but a valuable, hands-on experience that significantly enhances your company’s cybersecurity posture.

The primary objective of a red team exercise is to bolster your organization’s resilience against ever-evolving cyber threats, ensuring readiness before any actual breach or business impact.

Fabio Viggiani

CTO/Former Red Team Lead

Methodology and approach

Our Engagement Flow

Our red team methodology integrates established frameworks for consistency and reliability. We prioritize repeatability in our engagements, ensuring that each test yields consistent, dependable results. This approach guarantees that repeated exercises under similar conditions will provide comparable outcomes.

Defining Rules and Goals

Collaboration is key. We’ll jointly assess business risks and constraints, aligning with your specific cyber threat landscape. This understanding shapes our focus, directing efforts towards current, relevant threats.

Tailored Attack Design

Based on your needs and identified threats, we develop structured, controlled attack scenarios. Emphasizing safety and formality, we engage two trusted insiders (the white team) to maintain oversight.

Strategic Threat Simulation

Utilizing advanced TTPs and custom tools, we emulate the behaviors of selected APTs. The simulation spans three critical areas: initial access, infrastructure breach, and consequence evaluations.

In-Depth Evaluation and Debriefing

Post-exercise, we collaborate with your security and IT teams to identify strengths and areas for improvement. Our findings culminate in a comprehensive report, customized to align with your team’s insights and strategies.

Streamlined Overview of a Red Team Exercise

Preliminary phase

Reconnaissance and Intelligence Gathering

Before embarking on the initial access phase, a critical step is reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. This phase involves meticulous research and analysis to understand your organization’s digital footprint and potential vulnerabilities. It’s about mapping out your cyber landscape, identifying key assets, and understanding your security posture, setting the stage for a more focused and effective attack simulation.

Phase 1

Initial Access

In this phase, we simulate common cyber attack origins like accessing exposed systems using known and unknown vulnerabilities, leaked or weak credentials, or phishing campaigns to access your network via an employee’s computer. Our goal is to perform a realistic threat emulation and gain an initial foothold from external sources while maintaining operational continuity, applying a “leg-up” strategy if necessary.

Phase 2

Infrastructure Breach

Upon gaining network access, the focus shifts to deeper infiltration, such as compromising privileged user accounts, exploiting vulnerabilities, or targeting directory services like Active Directory.

Phase 3

Consequence Evaluation

This final phase involves simulating data exfiltration, a common cyber attack goal. It includes identifying and gathering sensitive information like trade secrets or financial data, reflecting the growing trend of double extortion in cybercrime. It can also be defined as a “flag” inside a high-value asset that the simulating attack team would try to acquire.

Optional phase

Physical Security and Social Engineering

As an optional phase, we include physical security and social engineering. This involves assessing and testing the physical security measures of your organization, such as access controls and surveillance systems. Our team employs social engineering tactics to evaluate employee awareness and response to potential security breaches. This phase aims to identify vulnerabilities in physical security and human factors, offering a comprehensive view of your organization’s overall security posture.

Watch the video

How Do Red Teams Legally Break Into Banks?

Join STÖK, our Hacker/Creative Director, and Fabio Viggiani (CTO/Former Red Team Lead) as they discuss red teams, TIBER, social engineering, implants, and much more.

Key Learnings – You’ll get insights into how real-world red team hackers work with:

  • TIBER-EU (yes, we are legally hacking into banks)
  • Implants and reverse shells
  • Social engineering/Vishing – Spoofing SIP trunks

Business benefits

Engagements Results

A red team exercise will provide the following discrete outcome:

  • Identify and understand the threat landscape of your business.
  • Detailed information on the threat model and attack vectors leveraged during the adversary emulation phase.
  • Knowledge sharing and business risk discussions.
  • Structured analysis of your current detection strategy and resilience against relevant APTs.
  • An executive summary with detailed information about your current cybersecurity situation.
  • Descriptions of all identified cybersecurity issues as well as the actions recommended to strengthen the cyber resilience within your IT environment.
  • A roadmap that can be integrated directly into your IT security strategy.
  • The report is prepared in English.

Building resistance

Business Benefits

Best in class team protect your business form cyber attack.

Realistic Threat Assessment

Performing a red team engagement offers a realistic evaluation of how your systems would withstand an actual cyber attack, providing valuable insights into your organization’s vulnerability to sophisticated threats.

Comprehensive Security Analysis

A red team engagement allows for a thorough examination of your cybersecurity measures, identifying not just technical flaws but also weaknesses in human factors, communication and organizational processes.

Strategic Improvement and Awareness

The engagement fosters heightened security awareness among staff and helps in formulating a strategic approach to bolster defenses, ensuring a more robust and proactive cybersecurity posture.

Act now

Book a red team today!

Who we are

Why We’re Different

300+
Penetration test assignments performed annually across all types of industries
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Dedicated offensive security specialists, penetration testers, and red team ethical hackers
500+
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