It's been estimated that by 2025, cybercrime will cost $10.5 trillion annually. 30,000 websites globally are hacked daily. In this situation, businesses need to take strict actions to protect their information from theft. To strengthen cybersecurity, organizations keep red teams and blue teams. The red team vs. blue team approach saves a business from cyber attacks that can leak confidential data.
This post will explain more about the red and blue teams and how they help from possible cyber attacks.
What Is Red Team?
In the red team vs. blue team cybersecurity simulation, the red team identifies and capitalizes on the weaknesses inside a business's cyber defenses. This happens through sophisticated attack techniques. The red team has well-experienced security professionals who do penetration testing by mimicking real-world attack strategies.
This team has operators that keep simulating how cybercrimes can be perpetrated in the actual world against a business. Here are some of the tactics and exercises of the red team.
- Ethical hacking or penetration testing involves a tester gaining control of a system via software tools.
- Physical security breach, which means a hacker is attempting to physically access a system in person.
- Wireless access, which means gaining access to a system remotely.
- Active directory exploits, meaning utilizing the directory to obtain domain rights.
- Email exploits and phishing tactics to make company members sign into spam websites and give their credentials.
- In the red team vs. blue team approach, the red team uses vulnerable endpoints to work their way into a system.
- The red team uses social engineering techniques, such as threats, attractive rewards, alarms, and the like to gain access.
- Red teams also use known vulnerabilities or common knowledge in an organization to get in. They may also use it to exploit team members and gain access.
What Is Blue Team?
In the red team vs. the blue team, the blue team protects the organization's data. It contains incident response consultants who assist the IT security team in the areas where they can work to halt intelligent cyber attacks.
If a red team attack is successful, the blue team responds to it. This includes analyzing the techniques used in the attack and implementing mechanisms to minimize the chances of its occurrence again.
In the red team vs. blue team here are some exercises and responsibilities of the blue team:
- Use of Intrusion Detection Systems to find possible cyber attacks and protection of the company's infrastructure.
- Recognize crucial assets and perform intermittent risk assessments such as penetration testing and vulnerability scans.
- Carry out DNS assessments to ensure that there isn't anything that can reduce network security.
- Safeguard workstations by managing endpoint software and firewall controls.
- Usage of micro segmentation, a security strategy that splits perimeters into small zones. It maintains individual access to every network part.
- Perform a footprint analysis to determine the possibility of a breach.
When Is Red Team Vs. Blue Team Exercise Needed?
Every robust security strategy has red team vs. blue team exercises. These exercises ascertain security gaps and various access vulnerabilities that may be a part of your security architecture.
Without this crucial information, it's difficult for customers to make their defenses robust or exercise their security team to become responsive to threats. It has been shown repeatedly that security breaches go undetected for prolonged periods. So, conducting red team vs. blue team exercises regularly is crucial.
On average, adversaries dwell for 197 days in a network environment before being detected. This increases the stakes for organizations because attackers can set up backdoors and make new points of access. In the red team vs. blue team approach, red team activities should seed the environment with data. This allows the blue team to understand the risk linked with each incident.
How to Implement Red Team Vs. Blue Team Approach
1. Conceptualize
Gather members of red and blue teams and discuss possible situations of attacks. This enables both team members to work on their strategies and improve them before beginning the actual exercise.
2. Create Objectives
It's important to formulate clear goals. The underlying aim of these is to enhance security. A good practice will be to focus your energy on only two or three critical aspects.
3. Set Boundaries
The next step in the red team vs. blue team implementation is to set limits. How far can you let the red team go? It's better to have fewer limits as it's more practical.
4. Gather Data
Finally, decide how you'll collect data from this exercise and share it. Organize data collection and delivery of reports to ensure that the business benefits from this experience.
Conclusion
The red team vs. blue team approach is essential for any company to test its network. It also helps them familiarize their employees with what can be done when a cybersecurity attack occurs. Today, in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, it's crucial to employ robust security software. Xcitium provides trusted cybersecurity solutions that protect from attacks like ransomware and malware infections. It secures, identifies, and detects attacks quickly so that your organization remains protected at all times.
