Red Team – test your incident response

To what extent is your information security department able to detect an attack?

It is not enough today to simply build up a wall using information security solutions. Even the most sophisticated and modern security system will be useless if your employees cannot detect a cyberattack.

There is a solution, it is training. You can organise an unexpected covert attack on your own company. H-X Technologies’s Red Team security services go further than just conventional penetration testing by utilising our tactical threat strategies and the hostile attitude employed by threat actors to test the boundaries of your security protocols.

What is a Red Team?

It is hard to predict when your company will be the victim of a cyberattack, but a Red Team assault simulation is the closest thing you can do to gauge how prepared your company is.

Red Team audit, as opposed to penetration testing, focuses on evaluating an organisation’s response and detection skills against a modelled threat with specific goals, including data theft. Red Team security services could be advantageous for businesses that currently perform frequent pen testing and have a strong vulnerability management program.

By thoroughly assessing the efficiency of security systems, personnel, and procedures in recognising and reacting to highly focused assaults, a Red Team audit from H-X Technologies is intended to go beyond the bounds of typical security testing.

In order to free up more time for you to prioritise future expansion and investments, our team assesses your organisation’s reaction to an attack, assisting you in classifying security risks, identifying hidden vulnerabilities, and addressing detected exposures.

The objectives

During the Red Team security audit, we aim for several objectives:

  • gaining entry to an environment containing confidential information;
  • successful exfiltration of confidential information;
  • gaining control of a particular equipment or an IoT device;
  • compromising the top management passwords;
  • obtaining access to enable the widespread distribution of ransomware;
  • gaining access to a data centre or other critical area physically;
  • compromising a user or group by social engineering or phishing.

All of these are done to test your existing cybersecurity measures and find their weak points.

What are the options, and why do you need this?

Red Team - infographic
  1. The Red Team’s main task is to conduct the deepest analysis of your organisation’s security systems. Red Teaming allows you to understand how prepared your security department is for real threats. Unlike pentesting, this service implies a deep assessment of possible attack vectors at all levels, from social engineering and a web application to physical access into your server room.
  2. The Blue Team’s main task is to protect the organisation’s infrastructure and assets: the defence team is not warned about an attack. This is one of the best ways to test both the defence systems and the ability of security specialists to identify and block attacks, and subsequently investigate incidents. After the exercise is completed, it is necessary to compare the applied attack vectors with the recorded incidents in order to improve the infrastructure protection system and controls.
  3. So who are the Purple Team? They combine the skills of Red and Blue Teams. Both teams work together to provide an ultimate audit. The Red Team provides detailed reports of all the performed operations. The Blue Team documents all corrective actions that were taken to resolve the problems found during testing. The Purple Team coordinates the actions of the Red and Blue teams, ensuring equal opportunities and not bringing the competition to an early end if one of the teams is obviously stronger.

Key features

  • In order to provide you with flexibility, clarity, and support, our Red Teaming methodology was designed from the ground up using the best modern practices.
  • Our skilled team of certified specialists thoroughly tests your organisation’s cybersecurity measures and incident response protocols against the necessary technical, legal, and regulatory requirements.
  • Red Team exercises replicate an assault and offer your company actionable security results using evasion, deception, and stealth tactics comparable to those used by skilled threat actors.
  • Phishing, social engineering, exploiting weak services, using proprietary adversarial tools and tactics, and physical access methods are just a few of the attack methods that are employed in the process.

Red Teaming process

Our method of Red Team audit offers you a precise and accurate picture of your security situation, and offers a workable plan with immediately apparent advantages.

We provide executive and management teams with high-level overviews that include assessment results, the discovered vulnerabilities, and tactical suggestions for resolving the identified issues or systemic problems.

We give a thorough analysis of all discovered security issues, including their possible outcomes, as well as extensive technical input enabling teams to comprehend, duplicate, and correct results.

A clear expert opinion is included in tactical and strategic suggestions to assist in handling hazards. When evaluating the effectiveness of your organisation’s threat response and detection capabilities, our Red Team specialists use a methodical approach. The phases below are an example of a typical Red Team exercise:

  1. Any Red Team test’s success depends on proper reconnaissance. In order to obtain information on networks, employees, and active security systems that might be utilised to infiltrate the target objects effectively, our white hat hackers deploy various tools, tactics, and resources.
  2. The next step starts when weak entry points have been found, and our specialists have created an assault strategy. Staging includes preparing and hiding the tools and materials required to launch attacks, such as configuring servers to carry out social engineering and control operations.
  3. Red Team operations’ first access phase is when the attackers first obtain a presence in the targeted system. Our ethical hackers will try to accomplish their goal by exploiting known weaknesses, using brute force to break weak employee passwords, and using fake email conversations to initiate phishing attacks and deliver malware.
  4. The Red Team focuses on carrying out the operation’s goals after gaining a footing on the target network. This stage’s goals might include lateral network movement, privilege elevation, and data extraction.
  5. After the Red Team exercise is finished, a thorough assessment report is created to assist clients.

The report contains an assessment of how effective the security system is, the attack vectors that were employed, and suggestions on how to fix the problems and reduce the risks.

Results of the Red Team cyber exercises:

  • Assessment of your cybersecurity team’s readiness and ability to deal with real threats and detect potentially dangerous activity behind familiar processes
  • Evaluation of your specific information security systems, solutions, and controls.
  • Recommendations on how to improve information security hardening, monitoring, incident response, and many other processes and mechanisms.

Service summary

⏳ Duration of project or delivery

In average, 2 to 3 weeks or more. Continuous monitoring takes several months or even years.

🎁 Can it be free or have a testing period?

Use free vulnerability scanners, e.g. https://service.h-x.technology/scan and get a free consultation.

💼 What type of business needs it?

Financial institutions, government agencies, healthcare organizations, retail and e-commerce companies, critical infrastructure providers, etc.

💡 When is this service needed?

When you have compliance requirements, recent security incidents, change of the threat landscape or your security team, or lack of understanding of potential threats.

📈 Your profit

Prevented costly security incidents, which can result in financial losses, reputational damage, and legal liabilities. Prioritized security investments and more effectively allocated resources.

⚙️ Our methods and tools

Social engineering, penetration testing methods, physical security testing, threat modelling, custom tools, OSINT, etc.

📑 Deliverables

Executive summary, detailed technical report, vulnerability assessment results, recommended remediation actions, and a debriefing session with key stakeholders.

Check out our additional services and business cases. Send the form below to request the Red Team or to get a free consultation.

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FAQ

A Red Team is a group of security professionals who simulate attacks on an organisation's security infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

The goal of a Red Team is to find weaknesses in an organisation's defences that could be exploited by real attackers. They use tactics similar to those used by actual hackers, such as social engineering, phishing, and other forms of attack. The Red Team then provides recommendations to the organisation on how to improve their security posture and prevent future attacks.

A Red Team is a group of security professionals who simulate attacks on an organisation's security infrastructure to identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses. The goal of a Red Team is to find weaknesses in an organisation's defences that could be exploited by real attackers. They use tactics similar to those used by actual hackers, such as social engineering, phishing, and other forms of attack. The Red Team then provides recommendations to the organisation on how to improve their security posture and prevent future attacks.

The duration of a Red Teaming operation can vary depending on the scope and complexity of the project. It can range from a few days to several weeks or even months. The length of the operation may also depend on the objectives, resources, and budget allocated for the project. Red Teaming operations typically involve multiple phases, including reconnaissance, planning, execution, and reporting. The duration of each phase may vary depending on the scope and complexity of the project.

Penetration testing (pen testing) is a type of security assessment where a team of security professionals, known as the "white team," attempts to identify vulnerabilities in an organisation's security infrastructure by attempting to exploit them. The goal of pen testing is to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers and provide recommendations on how to fix them.

Red Teaming, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive approach that involves simulating a real-world attack on an organisation's security infrastructure. The Red Team uses tactics similar to those used by actual attackers and attempts to breach the organisation's defences. The goal of Red Teaming is to identify weaknesses in the organisation's security posture and provide recommendations on how to improve it.

In summary, pen testing focuses on identifying vulnerabilities, while Red Teaming focuses on identifying weaknesses in the organisation's security posture and providing recommendations on how to improve it.

A Red Team operation could potentially cause damage or disruption if not properly planned and executed. The goal of a Red Team operation is to simulate a real-world attack, which means the Red Team may attempt to exploit vulnerabilities or weaknesses in the organisation's security infrastructure. If the Red Team is not careful, their actions could inadvertently cause damage or disruption to the organisation's systems or operations. This is why it is important for Red Team operations to be carefully planned and executed with the organisation's goals and objectives in mind.

  1. Preparation: Develop an incident response plan and ensure that all relevant personnel are trained on it.
  2. Identification: Detect and confirm the incident by monitoring network traffic, logs, and other indicators of compromise.
  3. Containment: Isolate the affected systems or networks to prevent further damage or spread of the incident.
  4. Analysis: Gather and analyse evidence to determine the scope and nature of the incident.
  5. Eradication: Remove the source of the incident and all associated malware or malicious code.
  6. Recovery: Restore systems and data to their pre-incident state or a new, secure state.
  7. Post-incident activities: Conduct a post-incident review to identify lessons learned, update incident response plans, and make any necessary improvements to security controls.

Identify and contain the incident: The first step is to identify the incident and isolate it from the rest of the network. This can involve disconnecting affected systems or disabling network services.

Assess the impact: The next step is to assess the scope and impact of the incident. This involves gathering information about the type of incident, the affected systems, and the potential damage.

Notify stakeholders: It's important to notify stakeholders, including management, IT staff, and potentially affected customers or clients, about the incident.

Investigate the incident: Once the incident has been contained and the impact assessed, an investigation should be conducted to determine the cause of the incident and to identify any vulnerabilities that may have been exploited.

Remediate the incident: Based on the findings of the investigation, remediation steps should be taken to address any vulnerabilities and to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Review and improve: After the incident has been resolved, it's important to review the incident response process and identify areas for improvement. This may involve updating policies and procedures, enhancing security controls, or providing additional training to staff.

Business cases of projects we completed

Audit of smart contracts and blockchain
Business Automation
Information security incident response and investigation
Managed security and compliance (ISO 27001, etc.)
Security analysis of software source code
Security assessment: audits and penetration tests
Security Operations Center cases