Purple Teaming
That Turns Every Test
Into Better Detection
Purple teaming
Offence and Defence Working Side by Side
Purple teaming brings our offensive specialists and your defenders into the same room. Together we emulate relevant threat behaviours in a controlled way, check what your tools and analysts see, and tune detections on the spot, so every session leaves your SOC measurably stronger.
Why organisations choose iSpyCyber
Truly collaborative
Your analysts see exactly what we do and why, so knowledge transfers in real time.
ATT&CK coverage mapping
Detection coverage is measured technique by technique and shown as a clear heatmap.
Tune as we go
SIEM rules, EDR policies and alert logic are improved during the session, not months later.
Threat-informed
Emulated behaviours are chosen from the threat actors most relevant to your sector.
Measurable progress
Before and after metrics show leadership how detection and response have improved.
Repeatable programme
Sessions can run regularly to keep pace with new threats and changes in your estate.
Coverage
What a Purple Team Programme Improves
Each session focuses on the parts of your detection and response capability that matter most to your risk.
SIEM detections
Correlation rules, log sources and alert quality validated against realistic behaviours.
Endpoint detection
EDR telemetry, prevention policies and alerting across your endpoint estate.
Identity monitoring
Visibility of suspicious authentication, privilege changes and directory activity.
Cloud visibility
Logging and alerting across cloud tenancies and SaaS platforms.
Email and web controls
How well gateways, filters and proxies detect and block malicious content.
Network monitoring
Detection of unusual internal traffic and data movement.
Analyst workflows
Triage, escalation and investigation playbooks tested with your analysts.
Playbooks and runbooks
Response procedures refined based on what happens in practice.
Coverage reporting
ATT&CK heatmaps showing detected, partially detected and missed behaviours.
Methodology
A Collaborative Six-Phase Programme
Aligned to MITRE ATT&CK and threat-informed defence practice, and shaped around your tools, team and priorities.
- MITRE ATT&CK
- MITRE D3FEND
- NIST CSF 2.0
- Sigma rules
- CVSS 3.1
1–4
weeks for a typical programme
6
collaborative phases
100%
behaviours mapped to ATT&CK
01
- Week 1
Scope and prioritise
Objectives, in-scope tools and priority threat behaviours agreed with your security leadership.
Key activities
- Agree goals and success measures
- Confirm tools, log sources and teams involved
- Set rules of engagement
- Output: Programme plan
02
- Week 1
Threat selection
Relevant threat actors and techniques selected and mapped to ATT&CK.
Key activities
- Profile relevant threat actors
- Select priority techniques
- Map to current detection coverage
- Output: Prioritised technique list
03
- Weeks 1–2
Baseline coverage
Existing detections reviewed to establish a starting coverage picture.
Key activities
- Review existing rules and alerts
- Identify logging gaps
- Build the baseline heatmap
- Output: Baseline ATT&CK heatmap
04
- Weeks 2–3
Emulate and observe
Controlled emulation sessions run alongside your analysts, observing what is logged, alerted and investigated.
Key activities
- Emulate behaviours in a controlled way
- Observe telemetry and alerts together
- Record detection outcomes
- Output: Session results log
05
- Weeks 2–4
Tune and improve
Detections and playbooks improved together, then re-tested immediately.
Key activities
- Write or tune detection logic
- Close logging gaps
- Re-test improved detections
- Output: Improved detections
06
- End of programme
Report and repeat
Before and after coverage, improvements made and a roadmap for the next cycle.
Key activities
- Updated coverage heatmap
- Executive and technical reporting
- Roadmap for future sessions
- Output: Final report and roadmap
Effort distribution
Where the programme time goes
Most time is spent working hands-on with your analysts, observing and improving detections together. Percentages are indicative.
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 Programme That Fits Your SOC
Every option follows the same collaborative approach. The difference is depth, frequency and how many teams take part.
Focused workshop
A short, intensive session on a small set of priority techniques. Best for a first engagement or a specific concern.
Quarterly programme
Regular sessions that steadily expand ATT&CK coverage. Best for maturing SOCs.
Post red team replay
Replays a red team exercise with your defenders to close every gap found. Best after a red team engagement.
Not sure which programme you need?
Our specialists will recommend a format based on your tools, team size and detection maturity.
Deliverables
Reports Built for Leadership, Engineering and Auditors
Clear progress for leadership, precise detection content for engineers and evidence your 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
- SOC 2
- RBI guidelines
- SEBI CSCRF
- CERT-In guidelines
iSpyCyber provides independent security testing that supports these requirements. Certification and attestation are issued by accredited bodies and licensed auditors.
Purple teaming for every industry
The basics
What is purple teaming?
Purple teaming is a collaborative exercise where offensive specialists and defenders work together. Threat behaviours are emulated in a controlled way while your team observes, measures and improves detection and response.
How is it different from red teaming?
Red teaming is usually covert and tests whether defenders notice an attack. Purple teaming is open and collaborative, focused on improving detections quickly and transferring knowledge.
Working with us
Who from our side should take part?
Typically SOC analysts, detection engineers and the owners of your SIEM, EDR and logging platforms, with a security leader as sponsor.
Is it safe to run in production?
Yes. Emulation is controlled, agreed in advance and designed to avoid disruption. Sessions follow written rules of engagement and can be paused at any time.
What will we have at the end?
Improved and new detections, closed logging gaps, updated playbooks, a before and after ATT&CK coverage heatmap and a roadmap for future sessions.
How often should we run it?
Many organisations run sessions quarterly or after major changes, new threat intelligence or a red team exercise.
Get started
See More. Respond Faster.
Together.
Talk to our specialists about a purple team programme that measurably improves your detection coverage.
- ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 9001 certified
- 40+ enterprise and government clients
- 15+ countries