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Understanding the Difference Between Red Teams and Penetration Testing in Cybersecurity

Penetration Testing and Red Teaming are both valuable, important, and focussed in their own ways. Too often Penetration Tests are used to assess a system and it is a rinse and repeat of the previous year’s test results, and the organisation states that they have documented and accepted the risks often due to budgetary reasons because those reports lack impact on what those risks actually mean for the entire organisation. What Red Teaming does well is demonstrate that accepting the risks in System A, System B, and System C, and then linking them together with fibre and copper can result in a huge organisational problems that can result in legal, financial, and reputational damage. However, this comes at huge cost, significant resource requirements, and potential business disruptions.

Whilst these services are different, they are complimentary, but we need to understand how they work, and what they are seeking to deliver.

Penetration Testing: A Targeted Security Assessment

Penetration Testing, commonly known as “pen testing,” is a focused security assessment that evaluates a specific system, network, or application for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. It is a deep dive focussed on a specific area dictated by the client’s requirements. The goal is to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors. Here is what sets penetration testing apart:

1. Scope and Focus: Penetration testing typically has a defined scope, targeting specific areas within an organization’s IT infrastructure, usually dictated by a client or by a requirement they have. For instance, a pen test may focus solely on a web application, a network segment, or a particular service. Testing often takes place in non-production, development, or reference environments, where the risk of business disruption is minimised. It focusses on coverage over stealth of the area they have been scoped to assess.
2. Methodology: Penetration testers follow a structured methodology, often based on established frameworks like OWASP (for web applications) or NIST (for broader infrastructure). The process involves information gathering, vulnerability identification, exploitation attempts, and reporting.
3. Objective: The primary objective of a penetration test is to find and exploit vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before they can be exploited before threat actors. The focus is on depth, ensuring that all vulnerabilities within the defined scope are uncovered.
4. Frequency: Pen tests are usually conducted on a periodic basis, such as quarterly or annually, or when significant changes are made to the system.
5. Impact: Pen test reports often go to IT, system, or project managers as part of a system upgrade or review. Rarely are they escalated to senior leadership and often budgets to fix issues are tightly constrained as how those systems integrate into the wider ecosystem of the organisation is not often considered.

Red Teaming: A Holistic, Adversarial Approach

Red Teaming, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive and adversarial exercise designed to evaluate the organisation’s overall security posture. It simulates a real-world attack scenario where the “Red Team” takes on the role of a motivated adversary. Here’s how red teaming differs from penetration testing:

1. Scope and Focus: Red teaming has a broader, more flexible scope. Unlike penetration testing, which targets specific systems, red teaming evaluates an organisation’s entire defence mechanisms. This can include physical security, human factors, and business processes dependent on what has been agreed with the client – often this is modelled on the capabilities of specific threat actors. However, the Red Team can attack any part of the organisation to achieve its objectives. Red teaming should occur in Production, after all that is where the threat actors will operate and where the defences really matter. However, this comes with significant increased risk of business disruption, so a red team will often have a dedicated risk manager to oversee the testing to ensure that those risks are recognised and controlled.
2. Methodology: The Red Team uses tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) similar to those of actual threat actors. The approach is less structured and more creative, often involving social engineering, phishing, and live system manipulation techniques. The objective is not just to find vulnerabilities but to exploit them in a way that mimics a real attack. Every step along a red team’s attack path however should be focussed on what is needed to achieve their objective. They are not going to find every issue in an environment, but like water they will find the cracks and crevices within the organisation and follow those in the path of least resistance to achieve their goals, whilst simultaneously exercising the organisation’s knowledge and defences of those issues.
3. Objective: The goal of red teaming is to assess the organization’s detection and response capabilities. The Red Team aims to bypass defences, evade detection, and achieve a predefined objective, such as data exfiltration or system compromise, without being caught.
4. Frequency: Red Team engagements are typically less frequent than penetration tests due to their complexity and scope. They are often conducted annually or in response to specific threat scenarios.
5. Impact: Due to their cost and complexity, organisations often require board level buy in to fund and commit to an engagement. This has the benefit that the reporting and presentations will often be heard at the most impactful layer of an organisation. Tangible outcomes, and recognition of inherent risks the organisation is carrying are made manifest to the board, so that investment can be made before an adversary can locate and abuse the same issues.

Complementary Roles in Cybersecurity

While penetration testing and red teaming serve different purposes, they are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they complement each other within a robust cybersecurity strategy:

• Penetration testing helps organisations find and fix specific vulnerabilities, ensuring that systems are secure against known threats.
• Red Teaming provides a broader assessment, identifying gaps in the organisation’s defences that may not be apparent during a typical pen test.

By understanding and leveraging both approaches, organisations can better prepare for the myriad of threats they face. Penetration testing strengthens the foundation, while red teaming ensures that even the most sophisticated attack vectors are accounted for.

Conclusion

In summary, penetration testing, and red teaming are two critical components of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. Penetration testing offers a deep dive into specific vulnerabilities, while red teaming provides a wide-angle view of the organization’s overall security posture. By combining both, organisations can build stronger defences and better protect their most valuable assets.