Cyberattacks have become certain, compelling organizations to rethink their approach to cybersecurity. Traditional penetration tests assess overall network vulnerabilities and highlight potential attack vectors a threat actor could leverage. However, they seldom replicate a full-chain attack in real-world scenarios without warning. Red team testing fills this gap by simulating an organized, targeted attack to evaluate how well an organization’s people and security controls withstand an active threat. This proactive method allows organizations to develop response strategies, expose critical or overlooked vulnerabilities, appraise defenses and enhance response readiness.

What Is Red Team Testing?

In red team testing, an attacker studies your organization and its network, using every available tool and technique to take over, exfiltrate data from or otherwise compromise predefined high-value targets (HVTs). These may include Social Security numbers, sensitive company data or other critical assets identified during scoping. Red team testing has two primary goals:

1. Determine the extent of damage an attacker could inflict on HVTs.
2. Evaluate the organization’s ability to detect and respond to such activities.

By simulating real-world attack scenarios, red team testing provides a clearer picture of network resilience and response effectiveness.

Why Is Red Team Testing Important?

Red team testing complements traditional penetration testing by demonstrating how an attacker would actively compromise your systems. It prepares organizations for modern cyber threats, including data theft and system destruction.

Today’s cyberattacks, turbocharged by advances in artificial intelligence, leverage both advanced and traditional techniques, such as:

• Phishing: Tricking users into revealing sensitive information.
• Compromised credentials: Exploiting stolen passwords.
• Insider threats: Malicious or careless employees misusing access to critical systems.

By proactively addressing these risks, red teaming enables organizations to identify and secure critical vulnerabilities, improve monitoring systems and strengthen incident response. This reduces the impact of real-world breaches and ensures teams are ready to respond when it matters most.

How Does Red Team Testing Work?

The red team testing process typically includes the following stages:

1. Open-Source Intelligence
   The first phase of red team testing focuses on gathering publicly available information about the target organization from resources that criminals use. This involves conducting thorough outside reconnaissance without direct interaction with the network. Red teamers analyze company websites, social media profiles and domain records — just as real attackers do — to craft a tailored attack strategy.
2. Initial Attack
   Once the necessary intelligence is gathered, the red team executes the initial attack using social engineering, phishing attempts and vulnerability scanning tactics. The goal is to gain an initial foothold within the organization, often by exploiting weak points in security systems or tricking users into revealing sensitive information.
3. Persistent Attack
   In this phase, the red team builds on the initial successes by expanding access using techniques like privilege escalation and lateral movement. This tests how well an organization can detect, contain and respond to an attacker who is already inside.
4. Reporting
   In the final phase, the red team delivers a detailed report highlighting strengths, weaknesses and key takeaways identified during the test. The report provides a clear narrative of your internal defenses and response mechanisms, showcasing which critical moments during testing led to the most success for the red team.

Benefits of Red Team Testing

Through its focus on real-world attack scenarios, red team testing reveals critical insights beyond the scope of traditional penetration testing. These insights translate into three key benefits that help organizations fortify their internal defenses and improve overall resilience: 

1. Enhanced Incident Detection and Response
   Red team testing reveals how well an organization can detect and respond to internal threats, highlighting blind spots in monitoring tools and gaps in incident response workflows.
2. Strengthened Internal Security
   This testing method uncovers vulnerabilities that traditional penetration tests often miss, such as over-permissioned accounts, unsecured service accounts and weak network segmentation.
3. Proactive Risk Mitigation
   Simulating realistic attack scenarios in a controlled environment allows organizations to identify and fix vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

By adopting an attacker’s perspective, red team testing equips organizations with the insights needed to strengthen internal defenses, improve detection and enhance response readiness.