redteam

Red team refers to a group of security professionals who act as an external or internal adversary to test an organization's security controls and incident response. The red team's objective is to emulate realistic attacker behavior to identify vulnerabilities in people, processes, and technology. Red teams operate under a defined rules of engagement and with authorization to conduct simulated attacks; their work contrasts with the blue team, which defends and detects incidents, and with the purple team, which aims to optimize collaboration between red and blue teams.

Methods may include targeted social engineering, physical security tests, network and application penetration testing, vulnerability discovery, and simulated breaches. The emphasis is on realistic, objective evidence of attack paths, detection gaps, and response times rather than merely finding technical flaws. Red teams often work as external firms or internal security teams and may conduct adversary emulation campaigns or red-teaming engagements.

Outcomes include a formal report with executive summary, risk ratings, detailed findings, evidence, and prioritized remediation recommendations. The findings help organizations strengthen controls, improve monitoring, and refine incident response plans. In practice, purple team approaches integrate learnings across red and blue teams to accelerate improvement, while maintaining ethical safeguards and proper authorization.

History: The concept originated in military wargaming and has been adapted to cybersecurity since the early 2000s, with various methodologies and frameworks, including adversary emulation and intelligence-led testing.