Red Teaming
That Tests Your Defences
Like a Real Adversary
Red teaming
An Objective-Based Test of Your Whole Security Programme
A penetration test asks what is vulnerable. A red team exercise asks whether your organisation would notice and stop a determined attacker. iSpyCyber runs carefully controlled, intelligence-led exercises against agreed objectives, then works with your leadership and defenders to turn every lesson into measurable improvement.
Why organisations choose iSpyCyber
Objective-driven
Exercises are built around the business outcomes that matter most to you, such as protecting critical data or key services.
Intelligence-led
Scenarios reflect the threat actors and tactics most relevant to your sector and region.
Detection and response focus
We measure what your teams saw, how quickly they acted and where visibility is missing.
Controlled and safe
Written authorisation, a small trusted control group and agreed stop conditions keep the exercise safe.
MITRE ATT&CK mapped
Every stage is mapped to ATT&CK so results translate directly into detection and control improvements.
Replay and improve
Joint debriefs and optional purple team sessions turn findings into lasting defensive capability.
Scope
What a Red Team Exercise Can Cover
Every exercise is scoped with your leadership around agreed objectives, boundaries and the parts of the organisation in play.
External attack surface
Internet-facing services, remote access and cloud entry points an adversary could target.
People and social engineering
Authorised, ethical testing of how staff respond to realistic social engineering, with care for employee wellbeing.
Internal environment
How far an attacker could progress towards objectives once inside, under agreed boundaries.
Identity and access
Directory services, privileged access and single sign-on as paths to critical assets.
Cloud and SaaS
Cloud tenancies and business-critical SaaS platforms within the agreed scope.
Physical security (optional)
Authorised assessment of site access controls where physical risk is in scope.
Detection and monitoring
Whether your SOC, EDR and SIEM detect activity, and how quickly alerts are escalated.
Incident response
How your responders investigate, contain and communicate when activity is spotted.
Crown-jewel objectives
Controlled demonstration of access to agreed high-value targets, using safe proof rather than harm.
Methodology
An Intelligence-Led, Six-Phase Exercise
Aligned to MITRE ATT&CK and the principles of intelligence-led frameworks such as TIBER-EU and CBEST, and tailored to your objectives and risk appetite.
- MITRE ATT&CK
- TIBER-EU principles
- CBEST principles
- NIST SP 800-115
- NIST CSF 2.0
4–10
weeks for a typical exercise
6
controlled phases
100%
activity logged and timestamped
01
- Weeks 1–2
Scope and authorise
Objectives, boundaries, stop conditions and the trusted control group agreed with leadership.
Key activities
- Agree objectives and success criteria
- Sign authorisation and rules of engagement
- Set up secure escalation and stop procedures
- Output: Signed rules of engagement
02
- Weeks 1–3
Threat intelligence
Relevant threat actors and scenarios identified for your sector, footprint and objectives.
Key activities
- Profile relevant threat actors
- Review your external footprint
- Design realistic scenarios
- Output: Targeted threat scenarios
03
- Weeks 2–3
Plan the scenario
Scenarios translated into a controlled test plan that the control group approves.
Key activities
- Map scenarios to MITRE ATT&CK
- Confirm safety controls and boundaries
- Approve the plan with the control group
- Output: Approved test plan
04
- Weeks 3–8
Execute the exercise
The exercise runs under constant oversight, with every action logged and progress shared with the control group.
Key activities
- Work towards agreed objectives
- Log every action with timestamps
- Pause immediately on any stop condition
- Output: Timestamped activity log
05
- Weeks 8–9
Report and replay
Findings, timelines and detection gaps presented to leadership and defenders, with a joint replay of key moments.
Key activities
- Executive and technical reporting
- Detection and response timeline analysis
- Joint replay with your defenders
- Output: Final report and replay
06
- After remediation
Improve and validate
Agreed improvements are validated, often through follow-up purple team sessions.
Key activities
- Prioritise improvements with your teams
- Validate new detections and controls
- Confirm progress against objectives
- Output: Validation report
Effort distribution
Where the exercise time goes
Most effort goes into preparation, careful execution and helping your teams learn from the results. Percentages are indicative for a typical exercise.
Quality built into every phase
Authorised and scoped
Written authorisation and rules of engagement before any activity.
Safety first
Agreed stop conditions protect people, systems and data.
Evidence-based
Every conclusion is backed by timestamped evidence.
Improvement confirmed
Follow-up validation proves defences got better.
Engagement models
Choose the Exercise That Fits Your Maturity
Every option follows the same safety controls and reporting standards. The difference is breadth, duration and how much your defenders know in advance.
Full-scope red team
A covert, objective-based exercise across agreed attack surfaces. Best for mature organisations with an established SOC.
Assumed breach
Starts from a controlled foothold to focus on internal detection and response. Best for testing the SOC efficiently.
Scenario-based exercise
A focused test of one high-priority threat scenario. Best for a first exercise or a specific board concern.
Not sure which exercise you need?
Our specialists will recommend an approach based on your objectives, maturity and regulatory expectations.
Deliverables
Reports Built for Leadership, Engineering and Auditors
Clear business context for leadership, precise detail for defenders and evidence your regulators and auditors can rely on.
Executive summary
Objectives achieved, business impact and resilience themes in plain language for leadership and boards.
Engagement timeline
A clear, timestamped narrative of the exercise mapped to MITRE ATT&CK, alongside what was detected and when.
Improvement roadmap
Prioritised recommendations across people, process and technology, highest-impact actions first.
Validation report
Follow-up confirmation that agreed improvements work, ready to share with leadership and auditors.
Supports your compliance and assurance requirements
- MITRE ATT&CK
- NIST CSF 2.0
- ISO/IEC 27001
- RBI guidelines
- SEBI CSCRF
- DORA
- TIBER-EU principles
- CERT-In guidelines
iSpyCyber provides independent security testing that supports these requirements. Certification and attestation are issued by accredited bodies and licensed auditors.
Red teaming for every industry
The basics
What is red teaming?
Red teaming is a controlled, objective-based exercise that tests how well your people, processes and technology detect and respond to a realistic adversary. It focuses on outcomes and resilience rather than listing every vulnerability.
How is it different from a penetration test?
A penetration test aims to find as many vulnerabilities as possible in a defined scope. A red team exercise pursues specific objectives over a longer period and measures whether your defenders notice and respond.
Are we ready for a red team exercise?
Red teaming delivers most value once you have basic monitoring and incident response in place. If you are earlier in your journey, we may recommend penetration testing or a purple team exercise first.
Working with us
Is it safe for our business?
Yes. Every exercise runs under written authorisation, agreed boundaries and stop conditions, with a small trusted control group in contact with our team throughout. We avoid disruptive techniques and never harm systems or data.
Who in our organisation knows about the exercise?
Only a small control group, usually a senior sponsor and a few trusted leaders. This keeps the test realistic while giving you full oversight and the ability to pause at any time.
What happens after the exercise?
We present findings to leadership and defenders, replay key moments together and agree an improvement plan. Follow-up validation or purple team sessions confirm that improvements work.
Get started
Test Your Defences.
Before an Adversary Does.
Talk to our specialists about a safe, objective-based red team exercise tailored to your organisation.
- ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 9001 certified
- 40+ enterprise and government clients
- 15+ countries