Red Team
(Adversary Simulation)

Assess the impact of a real-world cyber-attack on your organisation

What is a red team?

A red team engagement is designed to simulate a likely real-world threat, demonstrating if it is possible for an attacker to gain access to your organisation, evaluate the effectiveness of your defences and assess the damage that could potentially be done once inside, typically without being detected.

Testing is goal-based, and objectives are typically linked to your business-critical assets, such as intellectual property or sensitive data, and would therefore be highly impactful to your organisation if a malicious threat were to gain access to them. Red teaming looks beyond the security of an individual application or specific network infrastructure and takes a deeper approach than other types of testing, not just uncovering vulnerabilities, but showing how these could be exploited and chained together to achieve the set goal.

We work with organisations of all sizes, whether you require a company-wide assessment or a more focused assumed compromise approach. Whatever your needs, our red team service can be tailored to suit your goals and budget, providing you with the robust cybersecurity assurances you require.

Our red teaming can help:

Ensure critical assets are protected

What are your organisation’s critical assets? Production systems? Financial information? We can provide you with the assurances that these are as protected as possible.

Put your security defences to the test

Implementing cybersecurity measures & technology can be expensive, but can they truly detect a breach? We'll work with you to put your defences to the test.

Assess the business impact of a breach

Red teaming will help you fully understand the business impact of a breach and can help support your requests for security improvement funds.

Could an attacker really gain access to your organisation?

The following case study shows, step by step, how our consultants were able to go from a web app vulnerability to domain level access during a red team engagement. 

Approaching a red team engagement

Red team engagements are tailored to your needs and will look provide maximum benefit to your organisation in the allocated time. One way we can tailor our red engagements is through our approach:

Black Box Approach

This approach mimics a real-life attack scenario, where we have basic knowledge of the organisation but have no prior access. A black box approach typically begins with a reconnaissance phase (such as open-source intelligence (OSINT) gathering) and is often used by clients who wish to find out how a malicious threat could gain access to their organisation from the outside.

Assumed Compromise Approach

This approach assumes that an attacker has managed to gain a level of access within an organisation’s network and is typically used by clients who wish to understand what an attacker could achieve from this position. The assumed compromise approach avoids the need for any lengthy reconnaissance phase and in many circumstances, can offer the better value testing for clients.

Common threats our red team simulate

We will work with you to understand the most likely real-world threats to your organisation and simulate these faithfully. These often include:

Ransomware

Ransomware attacks can have a huge impact on your business, not only can they damage the day-to-day operations, but they could also lead to reputational damage, as well as potential financial loss.

Phishing

Phishing is a common entry point for attackers. They will often attempt to deceive staff and users into clicking on malicious links, hand over sensitive information or perform actions that may compromise your security.

Supply chain compromise

Attackers don’t have to specifically target your organisation to gain access to your sensitive material or negatively affect your operations, an unsecure supply chain could offer them a backdoor in.

Remote service exploits

Staff use a myriad of applications & cloud services to access their work environments and company information. These services can provide a direct route into an organisation.

Malicious insiders

Attacks don’t just come from outside threats; insiders often have access to sensitive information and if motivated, for whatever reason, could pose a threat to your information security.

Physical breaches

Information security doesn't just happen online, your physical premises can be a potential target for malicious attackers looking to access sensitive areas and information.

Red team areas of investigation

Our consultants will look to gather information from multiple sources, utilise various techniques and attempt numerous routes to achieve their set goal. The routes we use will be dependent on the scope set, but can include a combination of:

Technology

Every connected device, website, application & server provides a potential way in for an attacker. Our consultants will look to understand your estate, probing and testing to exploit potential opportunities.

People

Our consultants can use a variety of methods, such as social engineering and open-source intelligence (OSINT) gathering, to obtain credentials, gain a foothold on your network and manoeuvre towards their goal.

Physical security

Our team are experienced in conducting physical red team operations and, if instructed, can look to manipulate their way into premises. Once inside they will attempt to gain access to sensitive areas or confidential information unchallenged.

Processes & controls

Once inside your organisational network, our security consultants will look to expose and exploit any poor security practices and controls. This will allow them to further their attack and work towards their overall goal.

Not sure what you need?

Our team will be happy to discuss your individual requirements and provide a no obligation proposal based on your needs.

Our approach to red team engagements

The security confidence we provide doesn’t come from a one size fits all solution.

Our red team process will be unique to your organisation, security posture, digital estate and the goals set. Broadly speaking, each assessment will go through the following stages: 

1. Understanding your requirements

No two organisations, or projects, are the same. We work closely with you to gain an in-depth knowledge of your needs and a detailed understanding of the objectives under consideration, before putting forward a bespoke proposal of work.

2. Expert led, manual testing

Our test services are conducted manually by our expert cybersecurity consultants and are designed to fully challenge your current cybersecurity measures. All our consultants are directly employed by us, meaning we ensure the highest quality of service.

3. Reporting, tailored to your needs

Reporting isn’t just a piece of paper, it’s a process. Our reporting process can be tailored to suit your needs, providing you with timely, relevant, and detailed information, not just on our findings but also our expert remediation advice.

4. Post-test support & documentation

Our job doesn't finish on the delivery of a test report. We make our consultants available after the test to provide remediation support and can provide fix checks, as well as additional documentation where necessary.

Like the sound of our approach?

You can find out more about our test process and why it sets us apart.

Find out more about our red team service

Want to find out more about our red team engagements? Our team are on hand to provide you with the information you need. Please fill out the form below and one of our team will be in touch shortly.