Jeff Macko
Associate Managing Director
Cyber Risk
Secaucus
Red Team Security Services
Red team security services from Kroll go beyond traditional penetration testing, leveraging our frontline threat intelligence and the adversarial mindset used by threat actors to push the limits of your information security controls.
Talk to Red Team ExpertExplore Cyber Risk
Watch as Jeff and Ben explain the benefits and what might qualify your organization for a red team exercise.
While it is impossible to know when your business will be the target of a cyberattack, an attack simulation (a.k.a. a “red team” exercise) is as close as you can get to understanding your organization’s level of preparedness.
Unlike penetration testing, red teaming is a focused assessment designed to test an organization’s detection and response capabilities against a simulated threat actor with defined objectives, such as data exfiltration. Organizations that already conduct regular pen tests and have a mature vulnerability management program may benefit from red team security services.
A red team operation from Kroll is designed to exceed the limits of traditional security testing by rigorously challenging the effectiveness of security controls, personnel and processes in detecting and responding to highly targeted attacks. Our team evaluates your organization’s response to an attack, helping you identify and classify security risks, uncover hidden vulnerabilities and address identified exposures so you can spend more time prioritizing future growth and investments.
Get the Full Picture with Red Team Testing
Evaluate Your Response
How prepared is your organization to respond to a targeted attack? Test the effectiveness of your people, processes and technology.
Identify Security Risks
Learn what critical assets are at risk and how easily they could be targeted by cyber criminals.
Uncover Vulnerabilities
Red teaming mimics the latest adversarial tactics to identify hidden vulnerabilities that attackers seek to exploit.
Address Identified Exposures
Receive important post-operation support to address identified vulnerabilities and mitigate the risk of suffering a real-life attack.
Enhance Blue Team Effectiveness
Identify and address gaps in threat coverage and visibility by simulating a range of attack scenarios.
Evaluate Your Response
Red team exercises help ensure that your team has an opportunity to test the effectiveness of your incident response program.
Prioritize Future Investments
Better understand your organization's security weaknesses and ensure that future investments deliver the greatest benefit.
Access Certified Experts
Get the support of a team of experts which conducts more than 53,000 hours of assessments a year, with well over 100 offensive security certifications.
Red Team Security Services Key Features
Our red teaming process is built from the ground up to give you adaptability, clarity and support, allowing you to act with confidence.
- Offensive Security Experts – Our seasoned team of credentialed experts use their knowledge of data security to comprehensively test your organization's cyber security controls and incident response procedures against the highest technical, legal and regulatory standards.
- Intelligence-led Testing – Red team operations use evasion, deception and stealth techniques, similar to those used by sophisticated threat actors, to simulate an attack and provide actionable security outcomes for your business.
- Blended Attack Methods – A wide range of attack techniques are used, which might include phishing, social engineering, exploit of vulnerable services, proprietary adversarial tools and techniques and/or physical access methods.
- In-Depth Reporting – A detailed post-engagement report provides key stakeholders with a complete overview of the assessment and actionable insights to support the remediation of any identified risks.
- Tailored Terms of Engagement – We adapt to your business needs and your level of security maturity. From OSINT (open-source intelligence) gathering and network reconnaissance to custom social engineering and phishing campaigns, we test the effectiveness of your controls by simulating both internal and external threat actors across different attack domains.
- Comprehensive, Actionable Findings – Our adversarial simulation follows MITRE’s Adversarial Tactics, Techniques and Common Knowledge (ATT&CK) framework. Covering the entire attack chain, our goal is to provide a measurable effectiveness rating across the attack and defense surfaces to better inform strategic decision-making.
- Ongoing Collaborative Support – We partner with you to develop a strategy that aligns with natural business cycles. The program can include red team, social engineering, penetration testing and purple team. We also provide support for strategic and tactical remediation and mitigation, so you can prevent and respond to real-world attacks, reducing risk in the long term.
Example Red Team Objectives
- Gaining access to a segmented environment holding sensitive data
- Taking control of an IoT device or a specialized piece of equipment
- Compromising a company director’s account credentials Obtaining privileges to allow ransomware to be mass deployed across the environment
- Obtaining access to OT / ICS zone
- Obtaining physical access to a server room or sensitive location
- Successfully phishing or social engineering a user or group
- Bypassing specific security controls, such as endpoint detection and response (EDR), data loss prevention, DLP, email security controls or anti-bot controls
Actionable Red Team Reporting
Kroll's approach to red teaming gives you a clear, real-world view of your security posture and provides an actionable strategy with quickly recognizable benefits. Here’s what you can expect to receive in your red team report:
Executive Summary
A high-level overview for executive and management teams including assessment results, vulnerabilities found and strategic recommendations for fixing identified problems or systemic issues.
Play-by-play Attack Narrative
Steps taken to compromise your organization, including observed strengths and opportunities for further maturity.
Technical Details
Detailed technical feedback for teams to understand, replicate and remediate findings.
Expert Risk Analysis
Comprehensive analysis of all the security risks identified, including their severity and potential impact.
Actionable Intelligence
Tactical and strategic recommendations, including clear expert advice to help address risks.
Security Framework Mapping
Pinpoint and direct NIST, CIS, HITRUST and MITRE ATT&CK.
Red Team Testing Methodology
Our red team operations experts embrace a systematic approach when testing the capacity of your organization’s threat detection and response capabilities. An example of a common red team engagement might include the following stages:
- Reconnaissance– The success of any red team test hinges on the quality of intelligence. Our white hat hackers utilize a range of OSINT tools, techniques and resources to gather details about networks, employees and in-use security systems that could be used to successfully compromise the target.
- Staging– Once vulnerable access points have been identified and our experts develop a plan of attack, the “staging” phase begins. Staging involves setting up and concealing the groundwork and resources needed to launch attacks, like fixing servers to perform ”command and control” (C2) operations and social engineering activities.
- Initial Access– The initial access phase of a red team operation marks the point at which the attackers establish a foothold in the target environment. In pursuing their objective, our ethical hackers may attempt to exploit discovered vulnerabilities, use brute force to crack weak employee passwords and create fake email communications to launch phishing attacks and drop malicious payloads.
- Internal Compromise– Once a foothold is established on the target network, the red team turns its focus to executing the objectives of the operation. Objectives during this phase might include lateral movement across the network, privilege escalation and data extraction.
- Reporting and Analysis– Now that the red team operation has concluded, a comprehensive evaluation is prepared to inform technical and non-technical stakeholders in assessing the results of the exercise. A summary may include an overview of the effectiveness of the security program as it currently stands, attack vectors used and recommendations about how to remediate and mitigate risks.
Red Team Testing Fueled by Frontline Intelligence
Kroll is one of the largest incident response providers in the world, handling over 3,000 incidents worldwide every year. This unrivaled expertise allows us to collect actionable frontline threat intelligence and adapt the latest tactics, techniques and processes to incorporate in our red team operations.
Our team serves clients in 140 countries across six continents, spanning nearly every industry and sector. To help our clients stay ahead of today’s complex demands, we developed red team services that fully assess your organization's threat detection and response capabilities with a simulated cyberattack.
Our Red Team Security Qualifications
In addition to our rich threat intelligence, Kroll’s team of ethical hackers possess the skills and experience to identify and leverage the latest threats, putting your defensive controls through the ringer. Our experts carry key certifications too, besides their cyber street creds:
- Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
- CREST Registered Penetration Tester
- CREST Certified Infrastructure Tester
- Azure Security Specialist Cert
- AWS Security Specialist Cert
- GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN)
- GIAC Web Application Penetration Tester (GWAPT)
- GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester (GXPN)
- GIAC Cloud Penetration Tester (GCPN)
- EC-Council Licensed Penetration Tester (LPT) Master
- Certified Red Team Operations Professional (CRTOP)
Red Teaming Part of the Cyber Risk Retainer
Red team security services can be packaged as part of Kroll’s user-friendly Cyber Risk Retainer, along with a variety of valuable cyber security solutions like tabletop exercises, risk assessments, cloud security services and more. In addition to unique discounts, the retainer also secures prioritized access to Kroll’s elite digital forensics and incident response team, including solutions like crisis communication and litigation support when needed.
Get Started with Kroll’s Red Team Security Services
Assess and test your organization’s threat detection and response capabilities with our in-depth red team services and security consulting.
- A deep understanding of how hackers operate
- In-depth threat analysis and expert advice you can trust
- Complete post-assessment care for effective risk remediation
- Multi award-winning security services
- Avg. >9/10 customer satisfaction, 95% retention rate
- Red team experts backed by cutting-edge research and development
Talk to a Red Team Expert
Kroll is ready to help, 24x7. Use the links on this page to explore our services further or speak to a Kroll expert today via our 24x7 cyber hotlines or our contact page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cyber Risk
Incident response, digital forensics, breach notification, managed detection services, penetration testing, cyber assessments and advisory.
Penetration Testing Services
Validate your cyber defenses against real-world threats. Kroll’s world-class penetration testing services bring together front-line threat intelligence, thousands of hours of cyber security assessments completed each year and a team of certified cyber experts — the foundation for our sophisticated and scalable approach.
Agile Penetration Testing Program
Integrated into your software development lifecycle (SDLC), Kroll’s agile penetration testing program is designed to help teams address security risks in real time and on budget.
FAST Attack Simulation
Safely perform attacks on your production environment to test your security technology and processes.
Cyber Risk Retainer
Kroll delivers more than a typical incident response retainer—secure a true cyber risk retainer with elite digital forensics and incident response capabilities and maximum flexibility for proactive and notification services.
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