Prevasio’s Role in Red Team Exercises and Pen Testing

Cybersecurity is an ever prevalent issue. Malicious hackers are becoming more agile by using sophisticated techniques that are always evolving. This makes it a top priority for companies to stay on top of their organization’s network security to ensure that sensitive and confidential information is not leaked or exploited in any way.

Let’s take a look at the Red/Blue Team concept, Pen Testing, and Prevasio’s role in ensuring your network and systems remain secure in a Docker container atmosphere.

What is the Red/Blue Team Concept? 

The red/blue team concept is an effective technique that uses exercises and simulations to assess a company’s cybersecurity strength. The results allow organizations to identify which aspects of the network are functioning as intended and which areas are vulnerable and need improvement. The idea is that two teams (red and blue) of cybersecurity professionals face off against each other. 

The Red Team’s Role

It is easiest to think of the red team as the offense. This group aims to infiltrate a company’s network using sophisticated real-world techniques and exploit potential vulnerabilities. It is important to note that the team comprises highly skilled ethical hackers or cybersecurity professionals. Initial access is typically gained by stealing an employee’s, department, or company-wide user credentials. From there, the red team will then work its way across systems as it increases its level of privilege in the network. The team will penetrate as much of the system as possible. It is important to note that this is just a simulation, so all actions taken are ethical and without malicious intent.  

The Blue Team’s Role

The blue team is the defense. This team is typically made up of a group of incident response consultants or IT security professionals specially trained in preventing and stopping attacks. The goal of the blue team is to put a stop to ongoing attacks, return the network and its systems to a normal state, and prevent future attacks by fixing the identified vulnerabilities. 

Prevention is ideal when it comes to cybersecurity attacks. Unfortunately, that is not always possible. The next best thing is to minimize “breakout time” as much as possible. The “breakout time” is the window between when the network’s integrity is first compromised and when the attacker can begin moving through the system. 

Importance of Red/Blue Team Exercises

Cybersecurity simulations are important for protecting organizations against a wide range of sophisticated attacks. Let’s take a look at the benefits of red/blue team exercises: 

• Identify vulnerabilities

• Identify areas of improvement

• Learn how to detect and contain an attack

• Develop response techniques to handle attacks as quickly as possible

• Identify gaps in the existing security

• Strengthen security and shorten breakout time

• Nurture cooperation in your IT department

• Increase your IT team’s skills with low-risk training

What are Pen Testing Teams? 

Many organizations do not have red/blue teams but have a Pen Testing (aka penetration testing) team instead. Pen testing teams participate in exercises where the goal is to find and