What is a Red Team?
A red team is a group of security professionals authorized to emulate real-world adversaries and attack an organization's systems, processes, and people. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses before actual attackers can exploit them.
Red Team vs. Penetration Testing
| Red Team | Pen Testing |
|---|---|
| Adversary simulation | Vulnerability assessment |
| Broad scope | Defined scope |
| Tests people + process | Tests systems |
| Goal-oriented | Coverage-oriented |
| Longer duration | Shorter duration |
| Stealth required | Detection less critical |
Red Team Activities
Technical Attacks
- Network intrusion
- Application exploitation
- Social engineering
- Physical security testing
Tactics, Techniques, Procedures (TTPs)
- MITRE ATT&CK framework
- Real threat actor emulation
- Custom tooling development
Objectives
- Access critical data
- Compromise key systems
- Test detection capabilities
- Evaluate incident response
Team Colors
- Red Team: Attackers
- Blue Team: Defenders
- Purple Team: Collaborative improvement
- White Team: Referees/observers
AI Red Teaming
Testing AI systems for:
- Prompt injection vulnerabilities
- Jailbreaking attempts
- Bias and safety issues
- Output manipulation
- Data extraction