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Purple Team
Definition
Purple teaming is a collaborative exercise in which the offensive red team and the defensive blue team work together to test and improve security controls. It combines attack and defence.
Purple teaming is a collaborative exercise where the attack team (red team) and the defence team (blue team) work together to improve an organisation's security posture. Instead of opposing each other, both teams share real-time knowledge about attacks and detection.
How does purple teaming work?
In a traditional red teaming exercise, the blue team does not know when or how the red team will attack. In purple teaming, both teams collaborate deliberately. The red team executes attack techniques based on the MITRE ATT&CK framework while the blue team observes in real-time and tests whether their detection systems flag the attack. If a technique goes undetected, both teams work together to develop detection rules. This iterative process maximises the learning value of each exercise.
Difference from red teaming and blue teaming
Red teaming simulates a realistic attack to test overall resilience. Blue teaming is the daily defensive operation of the SOC. Purple teaming combines both disciplines with the primary goal of improving detection capability. It is not a replacement but a complement that maximises collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Impact on organisations
Many organisations invest in detection technology but insufficiently test whether that technology actually detects the expected attacks. Purple teaming closes this gap by systematically validating which MITRE ATT&CK techniques are detected and which are not. The result is a measurable improvement in detection coverage. NIS2 requires organisations to regularly test the effectiveness of their security measures. DORA mandates advanced resilience testing for financial institutions.
Protection
Purple teaming delivers concrete, measurable results: a matrix of tested MITRE ATT&CK techniques with detection status for each technique. For each undetected technique, new detection rules are developed and tested. Regular purple teaming exercises ensure continuous improvement of security posture.
How DEFION helps
DEFION provides Purple Teaming as part of its Adaptive Threat Detection services. Experienced red teamers and SOC analysts work with the internal security team to systematically improve detection capability. Security Control Validation validates whether security measures actually counter the expected threats.