RED-TEAMING

Red Teaming

Red Teaming is the process of providing a fact-based adversary perspective as input to solve or address a problem. Red Teaming in the context of cybersecurity is a best practice in which an organization’s cyber resilience is tested from the perspective of an adversary or threat actor.

This is a powerful means of providing the CISO with a fact-based assessment of an organization’s security ecosystem. This assessment is performed by a specialized and carefully constituted team and covers people, processes, and technology areas. As a result, CISOs can clearly understand how much of the organization’s security budget is actually being translated into concrete cyber defense and which areas need more attention. A practical approach on how to create and benefit from red teaming as a service from a cybersecurity partner is explored here.

Why invest in red teaming?

An organization invests in cybersecurity to protect its business from malicious threat agents. These threat agents find ways to overcome the company’s security defense and achieve their goals. A successful attack of this type is usually classified as a security incident, while damage to or loss of an organization’s information assets is classified as a security breach. Although most security budgets of modern companies focus on preventive and investigative measures to manage incidents and prevent breaches, the effectiveness of such investments is not always clearly measured. Security governance translated into policy may or may not have the same intended effect on the organization’s cybersecurity strategy when implemented in practice using operational people, processes, and technological assets. In most large organizations, the people who set policies and standards are not the ones who put them into practice using processes and technology.

All companies are faced with two scenarios when they assume they have a red team. The first is to create an in-house team, while the second is to outsource the red team service.

Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. While an internal red team can remain more focused on improvements based on known gaps, an independent, external team can bring a fresh perspective. Another critical aspect that should not be underestimated is that it is difficult to find personnel in the market. It is precisely in this context that the RED TEAM service is offered.