Find Security Blind Spots Using Purple Team Simulations

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 For many years, organizations relied on the traditional approach of evaluating their network and application configurations, functionality, and access controls. 

They usually have a red team that launches the test on the application by using exploits, open source tools, and other testing techniques that they have. This team then creates a report detailing all the weaknesses that were found and passes it to a blue team. 

The blue team implements the controls to defend against the vulnerabilities that were discovered during the test—adding firewalls, creating new rules over the firewall, deploying the IDS or IPS, and implementing IP-based restrictions over the network. The blue team also has breach and incident response capabilities, which warns them when something goes wrong. However, because the blue and red teams are unable to interact as much as they would want, it can be difficult to investigate problems.

Nowadays, the strategy has shifted. The teams work cooperatively rather than individually. As a result, they are now more collaborative in their work.

For example, on identifying a control they wish to test, they carry out the testing and utilize bypasses to go around the current controls. They then work to improve the controls to prevent incidents of this nature from occurring in the future. They even automate purple team simulations, which are a better method of identifying vulnerabilities in organizations than manual testing. 

Blind Spots Created by Blue and Red Teams 

All of us are familiar with the fact that red teams use exploits to test an organization’s architecture and conduct pen testing on its network. The assets of the organization under assessment are tested using a variety of tools, vulnerabilities, and other information, as determined by the team doing the testing. The team’s findings are summarized in a report on the vulnerabilities uncovered, which consists of basic descriptions of the problems. 

Thus, while blue teams address the vulnerabilities, it can be difficult for them to pinpoint the root cause in some cases. As a result, some vulnerabilities may go undetected, or their fundamental cause may not be patched, increasing the likelihood that these vulnerabilities will be exploited in the future. As a result, the red team is unable to pass accurate information to the blue team, and the blue team is unable to work efficiently. 

This lack of collaboration leads to the creation of blind spots and leaves the organization vulnerable to attacks. There are instances where blind spots were discovered in incident responses and during breach detection because the organizations’ teams were not able to truly identify the attacks in their early stages. This resulted in additional damage being done to the organization’s assets in each case.

Detecting Blind Spots through Purple Team Simulations

Purple team simulations are intended to identify the areas of weakness or blind spots that have been left by the blue and red teams during their respective tasks. During these types of simulations, the teams who participate engage in a hacker-like role play. They build and launch some of the attack scenarios against the organization to obtain a better understanding of the security measures and how to circumvent them. 

To mitigate the damage caused by an attack, it is vital to detect it in its early phases. If an attack is detected in its early stages, teams can take countermeasures to mitigate the damage caused by it. Therefore, organizations can benefit from participating in purple team simulations by learning more about their breach and incident response skills. 

In addition, you may utilize the simulations to conduct assurance and regression testing to obtain a better understanding of the security breaches and technology failures, which will help you improve your overall security posture.

Due to this collaboration across teams, these types of simulations enable the teams to discover and patch vulnerable systems or access controls in a more efficient manner than is achievable using the red or blue team approach. It also helps in improving information technology and cyber hygiene within firms. In addition, the staff becomes more aware of attacks and their circumstances as a result.

Conclusion

Integrating purple team simulation into an organization’s strategy is becoming more popular since they assist in catching blind spots left by the red or blue teams and encourage a more collaborative environment among the teams. 

Organizations may be able to run more efficiently and devote more time to their day-to-day operations if they address the root causes of their vulnerabilities and all of their bypasses rather than just the symptoms. The ability to focus less on security and more on daily operations will allow them to be more productive and profitable.