What are the best ways to simulate an attack on an organization's network?

Red teaming involves simulating an attack on an organization's network by deploying skilled professionals (the red team) to act as adversaries. The red team's goal is to identify vulnerabilities, exploit weaknesses, and assess the organization's overall security posture. This approach provides a realistic and comprehensive evaluation of the organization's resilience against potential cyber threats.

Red teaming involves simulating a real-world cyber-attack by an external entity to assess an organization's security defenses. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities that might be exploited by malicious actors. Red teams work independently of the organization's internal security teams. They attempt to exploit weaknesses through various means, such as social engineering, network intrusion, and other tactics.

In my experience in NATO, these exercises lasted several days if not week. But there were always specific days dedicated to VIPs such as policy decision makers, CEOs from private sector, Not-For-Profit organisations and more. So when it comes to assemble your red teams, try to diversify it as much as possible during these 'special days' to test cyber governance, cyber stakeholder engagement and cyber compliance challenges. Than you can use the outcome to draft a holistic cyber security awareness campaign and change management program to shift into higher levels of cyber preparedness, resilience and readiness.

Tabletop Exercises: Gather incident response teams and leadership around a table to walk through a hypothetical breach scenario. Discuss containment strategies, communication plans, legal/PR considerations, and coordinate cross-team responses. This helps identify gaps in existing plans. Red Team Exercises: Hire external cybersecurity experts to attempt real-world breaches within the scope of agreed rules, similar to how adversaries would attack. They provide an unfiltered assessment of current security vulnerabilities.

Red Teams do often specialize. Worth thinking about what you order and who could deliver. What I find interesting is that in our industry there are many definitions of what red team is, also often mixed/confused with penetration testing etc. This could be important when ordering such service.

Red teaming is seen as one of the most realistic attack simulations. It involves a comprehensive approach to testing an organization's physical, digital, and human defenses. The perspective here is not just about finding vulnerabilities but understanding how an adversary could achieve their objectives. It's beneficial for organizations that have matured their security posture and are looking to test their detection and response capabilities under real-world conditions.

Penetration testing, or ethical hacking, involves authorized individuals (penetration testers) attempting to exploit vulnerabilities in the organization's systems, applications, or network infrastructure. The objective is to uncover security weaknesses before malicious actors can exploit them. Penetration testing helps organizations identify and remediate vulnerabilities, ensuring a robust defense against potential cyber attacks.

There are a wide network of penetration testing as a service (PTaaS) companies that have some of the world’s top ethical hackers ready to help strengthen your company’s digital defenses through controlled and safe simulated attacks. Pen testers are trained and well versed in writing easy to read reports on your networks after their pen testing is completed to help you to know the best next steps to further increase your defenses. Well worth the time and investment!

Pour simuler une attaque sur le réseau d'une organisation, il est courant d'opter pour des tests d'intrusion. Il s'agit de simuler des scénarios d'attaques réalistes pour évaluer la résistance du réseau face à de potentielles menaces.

Penetration testing is more focused and scoped than red teaming and is typically aimed at identifying and exploiting specific vulnerabilities in systems or applications. The perspective here is that of a "snapshot" assessment of vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers. It's often used for compliance purposes, regular security assessments, or before deploying a new system. While it might not encompass the full spectrum of an adversary's tactics, it's crucial for identifying and patching vulnerabilities systematically.

As a penetration tester and certified ethical hacker, I find that penetration tests are invaluable across industries. These controlled, ethical hacking attempts assess an organization's security posture, with stakeholders setting criteria via Rules of Engagement. I provide a detailed report post-test, identifying vulnerabilities and suggesting remediations. This process is crucial for understanding and fortifying defenses, making it a vital tool in maintaining robust security across sectors.

Il peut utiliser diverses techniques, telles que l'analyse des vulnérabilités, la recherche de failles de sécurité, et la simulation d'attaques réalistes. En effectuant ces tests, il peut identifier les faiblesses potentielles du réseau, renforcer les mesures de sécurité, et ainsi améliorer la résilience de l'organisation face aux menaces potentielles.

Although penetration testing can prove to be valuable, it is crucial to have authorization, as well as what is authorized. At the end of the day, once the final result of the testing can help an organization defend against attacks and detail how an attacker thinks.

Purple teaming is a collaborative approach that combines elements of both red and blue teams. The red team (attackers) works in tandem with the blue team (defenders) to simulate and respond to cyber threats. This cooperative effort allows organizations to assess not only their vulnerabilities but also the effectiveness of their defense and incident response capabilities. It fosters a holistic understanding of the organization's security posture.

Purple teaming is viewed as a collaborative approach to improving security. Instead of the traditional adversarial mindset between attackers (red team) and defenders (blue team), purple teaming fosters a cooperative environment where both teams work together to share knowledge and improve overall security. From this perspective, it's not just about finding flaws but ensuring that the defensive measures are effective and that the teams are learning from each other. It's especially beneficial for organizations looking to enhance their team's skills and security strategies through continuous feedback and improvement.

One time I was involved in designing technical cyber security scenarios, but focusing on the emotional intelligence dimension. Often these skills are omitted during these exercises, only focusing on technical competencies and hard skills. But understanding the team's group emotional intelligence levels, can make a significant difference in how to work well together under pressure, how they communicate across the eco system of stakeholders, and how they manage the mental stress and stay focused during intense threat detection and defense activities.

Incorporating threat intelligence feeds into your cyber range exercises enhances realism and prepares security teams for emerging threats. By simulating scenarios based on the latest threat data, organizations can ensure that their security staff is well-equipped to respond to evolving cyber threats effectively. This dynamic approach not only hones the skills of cybersecurity professionals but also fortifies the organization's overall resilience in the face of constantly evolving cyber landscapes.

A cyber range offers a virtual environment where real-world scenarios are simulated, and security teams can practice their response to various types of cyber threats. The perspective here is about practice, training, and readiness. It allows teams to engage in realistic scenarios without any risk to actual organizational assets. Cyber ranges are seen as essential for developing hands-on experience, testing out security tools, and improving team coordination and response strategies.

In my view, the next level of cyber range is immersive and needs to be developed in an 360-degree/Augmented or Virtual Reality training if not already existent. Because Cyber Ranges often focus only on simulating the technical cloud structures, the different nodes and setting up virtual environment that don't feel real. So how are you going to change cyber hygiene across your business and your stakeholders if they don't sense and understand the consequences of their digital action on cyber security, within their life experience? It is an evolutionary process, and one where we should not underestimate the power and necessity to disrupt traditional cyber security training.

Cyber ranges provide controlled environments to simulate realistic attacks. By creating isolated replicas of production systems, security teams can repeatedly test defense and response capabilities. Ranges help identify vulnerabilities and gaps before real threats exploit them. Features like customization, automation, analytics, and flexibility to test various scenarios prove invaluable. Though ranges involve investment, the insights and skills gained make organizations more resilient. Approaching cybersecurity proactively with simulated attacks allows issues to be addressed strategically rather than reactively after incidents.

Remember that your employees can be the weakest link against security threats, with an estimated 85% of breaches involving human error. Much of this risk comes from email phishing attacks that compromise employee credentials. When conducting simulations of attacks on your organization's network, it's essential to include tests that replicate real-life email phishing scenarios, targeting personal and business email addresses. Evaluate the results meticulously and ensure that employees receive targeted training based on the findings.

In choosing the best way to simulate an attack, organizations should consider their specific needs, the maturity of their security infrastructure, the specific skills of their team, and the nature of the threats they are most likely to face. Each method has its place in a comprehensive security strategy, and often, a combination of these approaches is used to ensure a well-rounded defense. Regularly updating and practicing these simulations is also crucial, as threat actors continually evolve their tactics, and what was secure yesterday may not be tomorrow.

Liike learning to drive or pilot using simulators, we should adopt simulators for team training in cybersecurity. Before hands-on penetration or red teaming, teams can engage in a gamified, simulated environment. This approach offers diverse scenarios, exposing teams to various failure modes without risk. The key advantage is its threat-free nature, ensuring that errors won't impact the actual environment

✴ There are tools and frameworks, such as Mitre and Atomic Red Team, that can help simulate breaches to assess preparedness for such incidents. ✴ Additionally, tools like OWASP Caldera can assist with red and blue team tests and evaluate the readiness of monitoring systems as well as defensive tools to detect breaches. -In addition to the above, you should also consider the following: ✴ Use a variety of methods ✴ Involve all relevant stakeholders ✴ Document the results ✴ Review and update your security posture

One of the best simulation we developed as part of an integrated project team, covering all the skills and competencies necessary was a cyber attack on a missile launch. We invited high level political decision makers who initially saw IT security at the end of the supply chain. Then we worked to create a presentation that felt so real, and triggered questions within their map of the world that led to several policy changes and resources investment. It was a collaborative effort, with operational users, data scientists, cyber experts, strategic comms and stakeholders, and many other functions. That's why the simulation was so successful, because cyber is a social responsibility.

In addition to the methods mentioned, consider implementing tabletop exercises. These are scenario-based discussions that walk through the steps of dealing with a hypothetical cyber attack. This method helps in testing the organization's incident response plan and team readiness without the need for technical execution. Another approach is to use automated simulation tools that can mimic a wide range of attacks on the network, providing a safe environment to test defenses and train personnel. These tools often use up-to-date threat intelligence to simulate the most recent attack vectors. Both approaches are cost-effective and less resource-intensive, making them ideal for regular testing and training.

✅In general, to simulate attacks on your corporate network, in order to test its security, you must know your network perfectly, in order to plant the weakest elements and test the robustness of the latter. ▶️This internal knowledge of information is essential to target the most critical points of all the company’s IT

If possible, use threat intel to identify emerging threats to your organization and ensure that the purple teaming activities are based on real threats.