Red Team vs Blue Team:
What's The Difference?

Blog posted on 14th August 2024

Introduction: Red team vs Blue team defined

Red Team vs Blue Team is a common concept used in various competitive and collaborative contexts, such as gaming, corporate team building, and cyber security. In this blog we will explore them as the two major approaches to cyber security and online safety.

Red team often test the security of a platform or organisation, through simulated attack scenarios. Blue teams on the other hand are used to defensively prevent such attacks from being successful. Utilising both sides of this digital spectrum should provide a holistic security strategy which ensures active defences, as well as keeping on top of evolving threats.

What is a red team?

A red team is a group of ethical hackers or security professionals, tasked with simulating real-world attacks on an organisation to test its security posture. Exercises should include a lengthy pre-engagement scoping process, which outlines the systems in scope, any particular security goals, challenges or concerns which are looking to be addressed. Security professionals will then utilise a variety of techniques to find weaknesses in the defined scope of systems or people.

The primary goal of these exercises is to identify vulnerabilities, which can then be remediated before malicious hackers can exploit them. Each red team engagement should deliver a comprehensive report, detailing each finding, alongside best practice remedial advice.

Examples of red team exercises include:

What is a blue team?

Blue teams take on a more defensive role in protecting an organisations security posture. This can include monitoring networks, systems and applications for suspicious activity, or even signs of intrusion or compromise. When a threat has been detected, the blue team is responsible for containing the breach to ensure minimal impact. Once the affected systems have been properly isolated, they can begin recovery which may include removing any malware and restoring data from backups.

Like a red team exercise, blue team engagements should include a thorough scoping process ahead of implementation. This is where security professionals will work with your team to get a full understanding of your environment, and any specific goals or challenges the business is facing.

Examples of blue team exercises include:

Managed SIEM
Endpoint Security Software
Incident Response Strategies
Staff Training Exercises

How red and blue teams work together

Whilst holding great individual value in their respective scenarios, the most effective security strategies will include a blend of both red team and blue team exercises. According to an article by OffSec, one of the most crucial aspects of a successful security strategy is in bridging the gap between the offensive tactics of red teams and the defensive mindset of blue teams.

Organisations who combine the two practices may look to run combined projects, which test the effectiveness of each side of their cyber security strategy. This would involve the red team trying to breach the system, using a variety of penetration testing techniques such as malware injection, network breaches, phishing or even physical compromise. For the most real and effective scenario to be simulated, the blue team should not be made aware of such attacks prior to the engagement. The blue team will then attempt to detect and mitigate attacks via monitoring the in-scope environments, identifying threats and responding as they would with any other suspicious activity.

After the exercise, both teams should analyse the results together. This means discussing what attacks were successful, what defences were effective, and where the gaps or failures lie within each team. The organisation should then be left with actionable insights and improvements which can be implemented by either side, to ultimately boost the organisations security strategy.

Conclusion & Author:

Like all areas of security, there is no such thing as ‘one-size fits all’. Which side of these two strategies a business leans towards, will vary based on size, industry, and many other important factors. When red and blue teams work together effectively, the organisation will benefit from a more resilient and adaptive security posture, leaving them better equipped to handle real-world cyber threats.

The importance of professional support and advice lies prominent within each side, and your security team or provider should carefully define their goals and objectives ahead of implementing any of the discussed strategies.

Tom Sabine, Account Director

If you would like to discuss this topic further with Tom, have any questions, or would just like to connect in general, you can reach out to him in the following ways:

Mobile: +44 7480 730358
Email: Tom.Sabine@codeshield.co.uk