Red Teaming
Red Teaming is a comprehensive security assessment where ethical hackers simulate real-world attackers’ Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) on all aspects of an organization, including its people, processes, and technology infrastructure. Unlike traditional vulnerability scanning or penetration testing, which focuses on specific vulnerabilities, Red Teaming takes a holistic yet objective-based approach, providing organizations with a more accurate assessment of their security posture.
The Red Team comprises highly skilled security professionals who take on the role of attackers to assess the effectiveness of an organization’s defensive measures. They aim to uncover potential security gaps, demonstrating how attackers combine unrelated exploits to access sensitive data and critical assets. Following the assessment, the team provides recommendations and plans to bolster the organization’s security posture, ensuring it remains resilient in the face of evolving threats.
5 MUST KNOW RED TEAM SCENARIOS TO BOLSTER STRONGER SECURTIY
SCENARIOS 1: Compromising Active Directory (AD)
Active Directory (AD) is the crown jewel of any organization's digital kingdom, making it a prime target for attackers
What Is Continuous Red Teaming?
Continuous Red Teaming is a proactive and dynamic offense strategy that establishes a continuous cycle of testing, learning, fixing, and evolving tactics to create a resilient security framework that effectively identifies and addresses vulnerabilities. It involves regular testing of the environment by emulating different potential threat actors, thus pursuing diverse threat objectives every time. This approach of employing different TTPs in each test ensures a comprehensive evaluation of defense mechanisms against existing as well as emerging threats.
These assessments help assess the preparedness of internal teams to handle incidents, fostering an adaptive cybersecurity approach. Typically performed in a “low and slow” manner with custom tools and scripts that are not easy to detect, these assessments avoid triggering alerts easily, making them more expensive than regular penetration tests.
Furthermore, Continuous Red Teaming assessments will also aid in answering the following questions:
- Can we determine if a persistent and skilled attacker can achieve the flag using the TTPs?
- Do internal detection and reporting capabilities meet the required standards?
- Have we adequately assessed the effectiveness of our Incident Response practices and Blue Team capabilities?
- Have internal teams and external service providers fulfilled their Service Level Agreements (SLAs)?
Importance of Red Team Assessment
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Effective Risk Assessment: According to recent statistics, 47% of organizations believe red teaming is a best practice for risk assessment. This approach helps them uncover unknown vulnerabilities and weaknesses in their security measures, which is crucial for protecting their valuable assets and sensitive information.
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Data Protection: Red team assessment evaluates how well data protection measures work, especially for sensitive information like personally identifiable information (PII) and intellectual property (IP). This ensures that critical data remains safe from potential threats.
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Real-World Simulation: Red teaming simulates real-world attack tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that actual threat actors might use. This helps organizations prepare for and defend against realistic threats rather than hypothetical scenarios.
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Strengthening Security Defenses: By leveraging insights into the latest attack methods and vectors, red team assessment aims to expose vulnerabilities in security defenses. This proactive approach helps organizations strengthen security measures to protect against evolving threats.
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Identification of Vulnerabilities: Red team assessment identifies known and unknown vulnerabilities, along with misconfigurations in applications and network infrastructure. This ensures that potential weaknesses are promptly addressed to reduce the risk of exploitation.
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Performing Reconnaissance Activities: Conducting reconnaissance activities to assess the security of unprotected system data helps organizations identify information that could be valuable to potential attackers and take appropriate measures to prevent security breaches.
Why Choose Accorian?
Accorian is a leading cybersecurity firm, distinguished by its CREST accreditation, renowned for unparalleled expertise. Our team comprises technology and cybersecurity leaders, ensuring proficiency that exceeds industry standards. What truly distinguishes us is our commitment to tailor-made solutions. Each red team assessment, backed by our remarkable 100% success rate, is meticulously customized to meet an organization’s unique needs, ensuring relevance and effectiveness in today’s business landscape.
Red Team Methodology
Accorian utilizes the F3EAD methodology integrated with the MITRE ATTACK framework, employing a systematic approach consisting of distinct phases:
Fix
In the Fix phase, the focus involves intense reconnaissance and intelligence collection against the selected target, delving into the intricacies of the target’s systems, networks, and potential points of exploitation. This step is vital in the Red Team assessment process, aiming to attain a level of familiarity with the target that facilitates informed decision-making in subsequent phases of the F3EAD methodology.
Finish
In the Finish phase, the focus shifts to setting plans into action by deploying Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) in a decisive and coordinated manner. This phase integrates various elements, including toolsets, intelligence, capabilities, and human expertise, amalgamating into a comprehensive and potent weapon system. It’s the focal point where planning and reconnaissance transition into practical, impactful actions. MITRE ATTACK TTPS are pivotal in shaping the attack path and enhancing the red team’s ability to navigate and exploit vulnerabilities effectively.
Exploit
In the exploitation phase, Accorian acts as the Red Team actor and operationalizes the detailed attack plan into action to achieve mission objectives. This phase represents the culmination of strategic planning and the initiation of exploits to realize Red Team objectives.
Analyze
In the analysis phase, the team gains insights into the systems’ responses; they can adjust their tactics and techniques accordingly. This phase involves continuous updates, revisions, and modifications to the attack path and exploitation strategies. Whether an exploit succeeds or fails, the iterative nature of the phase ensures that our testers remain agile and responsive to evolving conditions.
Disseminate
In the dissemination phase, raw assessment data is transformed into actionable intelligence, acting as a vital link between the Red Team’s activities and the broader organizational context. This documentation provides:
- A comprehensive record of the assessment’s results
- Guides organizations with the next steps, empowering leadership for strategic decision-making
- Fortifies the overall security posture
Attack Scenario Examples
COMPROMISE OF
ACTIVE DIRECTORY
Activity: Conduct a targeted cyberattack against employees to gain unauthorized access to their computer systems. Proceed to perform lateral movement within the organization’s network and identify domain or enterprise administrators, aiming to compromise their accounts.
Objective
Evaluate the organization’s defenses concerning Active Directory (AD) security.
Assess the capability of the security team to detect and respond to a multi-stage cyberattack.
Demonstrate the effectiveness of the organization’s incident response procedures.
Attack Vector: Internal
C-LEVEL EXECUTIVE
EMAIL ACCESS
Activity: Simulate a phishing campaign to compromise the email accounts of C-level executives. Additionally, crawl the dark web to acquire compromised credentials.
Objective
Assess the effectiveness of cybersecurity awareness training provided to employees, particularly regarding phishing attacks.
Investigate the presence of the organization’s data on the dark web.
Evaluate the capability of the security team to detect and respond to a multi-stage cyberattack, starting with a phishing attempt.
Attack Vector: External
EXFILTRATION OF
SENSITIVE DATA
Activity: Conduct a cyberattack to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data and exfiltrate information covertly.
Objective
Assess the ability of the security team to detect a multistage cyberattack.
Determine the extent to which a persistent attacker could compromise confidential information.
Prove the effectiveness of incident response procedures.
Attack Vector: Internal/External
BACKDOORING APPLICATION ON
PRODUCTION/ STAGING
Activity: Install a backdoor that will provide an attacker with continued access to the system or other application resources.
Objective
Evaluate the security team’s capability to identify and respond to a multi-stage cyberattack involving backdooring.
Demonstrate the effectiveness of the organization’s incident response procedures in detecting and mitigating threats involving backdoors.
Attack Vector: Internal
GAINING ACCESS TO
SECURE CODE
Activity: Execute a cyberattack to gain unauthorized access to the source code of applications and covertly exfiltrate this information.
Objective
Assess the security team’s capacity to detect and respond to a multi-stage cyberattack targeting source code.
Determine how much a persistent attacker could compromise confidential information through source code access.
Demonstrate the effectiveness of the organization’s incident response procedures in detecting and mitigating source code breaches.
Attack Vector: Internal
Key Differentiators
Accorian is a leading cybersecurity and compliance firm with a wealth of experience to help navigate organizations on their information security journey. Our services, including HITRUST, HIPAA, PCI, ISO, NIST, Incident Response, Risk Assessment, Penetration Testing, vCISO, and Red Teaming, reflect our commitment to providing comprehensive solutions tailored to specific regulatory needs. With our distinctive, hands-on, white-glove approach and goal-oriented, proven methodology, we ensure compliance and deliver tangible fiscal value and unparalleled expertise to our clients.
Our test plans aim to cover 200-400 checks for network penetration tests and 400-800 reviews for application penetration tests
Our time-tested and proven penetration testing methodology is built using OSSTMM, OWASP, NIST, and PTES standards
End-to-end project management for assessments with comprehensive and detailed reporting through our platform
We leverage our automated scanners and tools along with our custom scripts to conduct thorough assessments and ensure comprehensive coverage
Combined experience of working with 500+ clients on 1200+ penetration tests, detection of 25000+ vulnerabilities, and 100% success rate in red team engagements
A Trusted Vulnerability Assessor and an
Approved Scan Vendor (ASV) for organizations in sectors such as banking, financial services, credit unions, eCommerce, and SaaS that need to adhere to PCI DSS requirements