What is Red Team Testing?
Red Team Testing seeks to test all of the security controls you have implemented across your business in your people, process, and technology against real-life cyber-attack methodologies based on open-source available information.
This holistic, intelligence-led testing approach differs from conventional security penetration testing, which seeks to assess the security controls deployed in the systems that host your sensitive data. It’s an effective methodology for testing the organisation’s exposure and not just its technology.
The driving principle of conducting a Red Team Test is: “Know thyself”. This testing has a proven methodology for understanding how well your organisation would fare against a real-life cyber attack.
Let Risk Crew design and deliver a systematic Red Team Test to holistically test the security controls in all the pathways to your sensitive data and achieve the best return on investment for your cyber security testing budget.
You don’t know what you don’t know – until you test what you think you know.
Clear Rules of Engagement
Agreed Red Team Testing scope, target objectives, threat actor roles, barred tools or techniques, timeframes, Incident Response control triggers, and reporting deliverables.
Red Team Testing Methodology
Intelligence-led, multi-attack vector approach methodology that mimics the tactics, techniques and procedures of real-life threat actors and meets the TIBER-EU framework.
Real Knowledge Transfer
Detailed report of findings and remedial recommendations from our testing. Audio and/or video recordings of attacks, visual evidence of breaches achieved and workshop to ensure your understanding of our findings.
How Will You Benefit from Red Team Testing with Risk Crew?
Our cost-effective Red Team Testing will result in the following deliverables to your organisation:
Detailed Report
Upon completion of our Red Team Test, you will receive a comprehensive report detailing test findings and remedial recommendations. Documentation will also include: all OSINT and digital footprinting data collected, threat actors simulated, attack vector maps generated, attack methodologies implemented, and timeframes applied, audio and/or video recordings of attacks, and visually documented evidence of any breaches achieved.
Stakeholder Workshop
The report is presented in a half-day workshop with your organisation’s applicable stakeholders to ensure an understanding of the findings from the Red Team Testing. It will cover prioritised remedial recommendations and the most significant risks identified to the business. The objective is to add significant narration to the documentation produced. Our team will explain what security vulnerabilities were found, how they were found, and how they were exploited in a face-to-face session.
On-call Security Advice
We provide on-call advice and assistance for 30 days following the submission of the report to answer any questions that may arise from implementing the recommended remedial actions and ensure mitigation of the risks identified in Red Team Testing. We believe knowledge transfer is critical in all our engagements. You should expect nothing less.
Transparent Pricing
Our fixed pricing services come with no unexpected added costs. Additionally, we offer a managed service to conduct penetration testing on a continual basis.
Customer Promise
Risk Crew provides an unparalleled penetration testing solution covered by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Risk Crew’s Red Team Penetration Testing will:
✓ Provide a real-life measure of your organisation's capability to identify real threats to real vulnerabilities and in real-time
✓ Validate the effectiveness of your existing controls and identify previously unrecognised vulnerabilities in people, process and technology
✓ Help to prevent or appropriately identify and respond to unauthorised access attempts
✓ Confirmation that the overall effectiveness of your information security meets your risk appetite
Purple Team
Looking to Test the Capabilities of Your Blue Team? Risk Crew provides customised Purple Team Exercises to measure and improve your organisation’s Blue Team expertise. Get in touch and let us design customised, simulated attacks to raise your game.
Why Choose Risk Crew for Your Red Team Testing?
Our skilled and experienced security engineers implement proven Red Team Testing methodologies, using proprietary and open-source tools, to ensure they can effectively assess your business’s capabilities to detect and mitigate cyber-attacks. We don’t assume, we verify with thorough testing.
Our deliverables produce metrics you can use to monitor and manage real-world cyber risks.
What Our Customers Say
“A very positive experience. Risk Crew staff were friendly and professional throughout the engagement, keeping me informed and addressing all concerns in a timely manner. I won't hesitate to recommend Risk Crew or use them for future engagements.”.
CISO| Utilities
“I have dealt with Risk Crew for several years. Their professionalism and attention to detail are second to none and they have a comprehensive and extensive knowledge of all the relevant standards and regulations. They are able to present ISO 27001 so that they can be understood by staff at all levels. Their training modules are excellent. I would recommend using Risk Crew.”
CISO| Hospitality Industry
"They were exceptionally easy to work with from contract negotiation to the final deliverable and closeout. Every interaction was professional and full of expertise – from the Project Manager to the Security Engineers. If you are in need of solid cyber security expertise that you can trust, I highly recommend Risk Crew.”
Chief Information Technology Officer | Finance Industry
Request a Red Team Testing Quote
Our experts will contact you to discuss your specific requirements
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Red Team testing?
In an information or cyber security context, a Red Team is a group of ethical hackers that design and execute a series of coordinated technical and social engineering attacks on an organisation’s people, processes, and technology to simulate how an intruder could obtain unauthorised access to its systems or information assets.
Technically, a Red Team is an independent group that challenges an organisation to improve its effectiveness by assuming an adversarial role or point of view – seeing the organisation through an adversary’s eyes.
What is the difference between a Red Team and a Blue Team?
In information security terms, Red Teams are external entities brought in to test the effectiveness of an information security risk management programme. Blue Team refers to the internal resources charged with executing the information security risk management program and defending the business from a cyber-attack. The purpose of a Red Team is to identify ways to improve the Blue Team. To learn more about the difference between a Red Team and a Blue Team, read one of our recent blog posts.
What's the difference between penetration testing and Red Team Testing?
A security penetration test uses the methodology of identifying and attempting to exploit security weaknesses associated with an organisation’s technology systems to get unauthorised access or access to a specific target. Red Team Testing is the methodology of identifying and attempting to exploit weaknesses in an organisation’s people, processes, and technology systems to get unauthorised access to a specific target. Penetration testing is included in Red Team testing. If you want to find out more, read our blog post on the difference between penetration testing and Red Team Testing.
What are examples of typical Red Team exercises?
Typical Red Team exercises would include technical penetration testing, phishing, telephone pretexting staff for passwords, and attempting to bypass office physical access controls in order to upload an unauthorised application (i.e. spyware). The specific attack methodology would be driven by the security awareness culture of the organisation.
What is a Red Team methodology?
A Red Team testing methodology should be a flexible framework bespoke to the target organisation’s culture and objectives and at minimum be comprised of the following activities:
- Establishing the testing scope (people, processes, technology)
- Establishing the rules of engagement
- Establishing the testing target(s) and/or objective(s)
- Establishing the testing timelines
- Conducting target reconnaissance and intelligence gathering
- Designing the attacks (people, processes & technology)
- Executing the attacks
- Evidence tagging
- Report of findings & remedial recommendations
- Provide metrics for future testing
What's is the TIBER-EU framework?
Threat Intelligence-based Ethical Red Teaming (TIBER-EU) framework is supported by the European Central Bank. It provides guidance on how entities, authorities and Red Team service providers can work together – to improve testing. Testing mirrors real-life tactics and attacks to expose security vulnerabilities and strengths. Read more about the framework's benefits in our blog: The TIBER-EU Framework - What It Is and the Benefit to Financial Institutions.
Red Team Resources
Red Team Testing Discovery Session
Speak with a Red Team expert to understand if this type of testing is right for your organisation. Schedule a call or online meeting.
Red Team Essential KPIs & Metrics Guide
Learn the key KPIs and Metrics to track in your testing. Gain insight into testing frameworks and best practices to use to maximise ROI.
Red Team Testing Case Study
Read how Risk Crew helped a major international retail banking organisation test its security posture against real-world attack scenarios.
TIBER-EU Provider Profile
Learn more about the European Central Bank's framework and how Risk Crew can deliver TIBER-EU testing to your organisation, in our Red Team Tester Profile.