Red Team
Definition
A red team is a group of security specialists who think and act as attackers to test an organisation's resilience. They simulate realistic attacks to uncover weaknesses that traditional tests miss.
Red teaming goes beyond a standard pentest: it simulates a complete attack campaign, including social engineering, physical intrusion attempts and advanced persistent threats (APTs). The red team works without full knowledge of the defensive measures.
The goal is not only to find vulnerabilities, but also to test how well the organisation's detection and response capabilities work. Results provide insight into both attack paths and defensive blind spots.
Red teaming is often combined with blue team (defence) exercises and forms the basis for purple teaming.