Objective-driven, MITRE ATT&CK-aligned engagements that emulate the techniques real threat actors use against organizations like yours. Initial access through actions on objectives, end to end.
A red team engagement answers a different question than a penetration test. Not "where are your weaknesses" but "if a real threat actor came after you tomorrow, would your detection, response, and defenses actually catch them in time".
A penetration test is a comprehensive search for weaknesses across a defined scope. A red team engagement is the opposite shape: a focused, stealth-oriented operation aimed at specific objectives, using the tradecraft of a specific threat actor or threat-actor profile relevant to your industry. The point is not to find every vulnerability. The point is to demonstrate whether your detection and response capabilities would catch a real attack in the window when stopping it still matters.
Our adversary simulations are scoped against your threat model. If you are a healthcare provider, we may emulate ransomware operators known to target healthcare. If you are a financial services firm, we may emulate techniques from groups like FIN7 or actors focused on financial fraud. The threat-actor profile drives the techniques we use, the tooling we choose, and the operational security we maintain throughout the engagement.
This is the most mature, highest-stakes engagement we deliver. It is appropriate for organizations with a functioning security program who want to validate that the program actually works under realistic pressure.
Phishing, spear-phishing, exposed credentials, partner-of-trust paths, and supply chain pathways. We get in the way an actual threat actor would, using the techniques attackers are actively using today.
Operator-grade C2 frameworks (Sliver, Havoc, Mythic, Cobalt Strike when licensed by the client) with realistic infrastructure, domain fronting where appropriate, and operational security that respects how a sophisticated adversary would actually operate.
AMSI bypass, AV/EDR evasion, in-memory operation, living-off-the-land techniques, and the operational discipline that lets a real adversary stay quiet for weeks. We document what evaded detection and what was caught, both of which produce actionable improvements for your blue team.
Through your environment toward the objectives. We move slowly, deliberately, and quietly. We establish realistic persistence and demonstrate what a long-term presence in your network would look like.
Data exfiltration simulation, ransomware deployment validation (without actual encryption), business email compromise, payment fraud simulation. The objectives are agreed during scoping and tied to your most-feared business impact.
For organizations that want to actively improve detection during the engagement, we run in purple-team mode: collaborative testing where our team and your blue team work together to identify gaps and validate detections in real time. This is the highest-value mode for security programs that are ready to invest in detection engineering.
Active operations typically run four to six weeks for a full red team engagement. Scoping is more involved than a pentest: we work with you to define objectives, threat actor profile, rules of engagement, white-team contacts, and escalation procedures. Blue team awareness is usually limited to a small number of stakeholders to preserve realism.
The engagement follows our adversary-emulation methodology, which is structurally aligned with our five-phase methodology but adapted for the longer duration, the operational-security requirements, and the objective-driven structure.
If you have an EDR deployed, a SOC or MDR provider, and a documented incident response plan, you are ready to learn from a red team engagement. If you do not have those in place, a penetration test will give you more actionable findings for less cost. We will tell you honestly which makes more sense for where you are today.
No. We simulate the impact of an attack without causing the impact. Ransomware deployment is validated by demonstrating the capability to encrypt, not by actually encrypting. Data exfiltration uses authorized "marker" data, not real production data.
That is a successful outcome. We document the techniques that were detected, the time-to-detection, and the response actions taken. Detection by your SOC tells you the controls are working, and the engagement still produces value: we share what specifically detected us so you can validate and replicate that detection.
A small "white team" of authorized stakeholders, typically two to four people, who know the engagement is happening, hold the rules of engagement, and serve as the emergency-stop authority. The rest of the organization, including your SOC, is not informed. That preserves realism.
Red team engagements are authorized in writing under a signed engagement letter and statement of work. The authorization, rules of engagement, and white-team contact list form the legal framework. We do not begin operations until the paperwork is in place.
Red team engagements require more scoping conversation than pentests. Let us start with a call to understand your environment and objectives before we propose anything.