What is red teaming in cybersecurity?

Red teaming is a multi-week adversary simulation that tests whether your security team can detect and respond to a real attack. Unlike penetration testing, red team operations focus on testing your detection and response capabilities using the same techniques as real threat actors.

What is the difference between red team and penetration testing?

Penetration testing finds vulnerabilities in specific systems. Red teaming simulates a full attack chain from initial access to data exfiltration, testing your people, processes, and technology across the entire kill chain.

How long does a red team engagement take?

Red team engagements typically last 3-6 weeks. This includes reconnaissance, initial access attempts, lateral movement, and objective completion. The longer duration allows for realistic attack pacing.

What is MITRE ATT&CK and how does OFFCEPT use it?

MITRE ATT&CK is a knowledge base of adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures. OFFCEPT uses it to model operations around real threat actors targeting your sector, ensuring the simulation matches the threats you actually face.

Will a red team engagement disrupt our operations?

No. Red team operations are carefully scoped and coordinated. Safety rules are agreed beforehand, and OFFCEPT operators work within defined boundaries to avoid any impact on production systems or business operations.

OFFCEPT

Let's Talk

All Engagements

Real testing by experienced operators. Threat-informed scoping, actionable reporting, and verified remediation.

See Methodology

What We Do

Penetration Testing

Manual testing that finds what scanners miss

Red Team Operations

Multi-week adversary simulations

CTEM

Continuous threat exposure management

Threat Intelligence

Data breach, dark web, and credential monitoring

EDR & XDR Testing

Endpoint detection gap analysis and evasion testing

Phishing & Social Engineering

Real campaigns, not generic templates

AI & LLM Security

Testing AI systems and LLM integrations

Zero-Day Research

Hunting undiscovered vulnerabilities

Reverse Engineering

Binary analysis, malware, and firmware

How We Work

From scoping to verified remediation in four phases. Every engagement follows the same structure, adapted to your threat landscape.

Full Breakdown

The Process

01 Scoping & Threat Model

Profile threat actors, map attack surface, define objectives

02 Testing & Exploitation

Manual testing, chained vulnerabilities, real attack paths

03 Reporting & Debrief

Proof, impact, remediation path, live walkthrough

04 Remediation & Validation

Re-test fixes, confirm they work, measurable improvement

Blog Open Source Tools Case Studies

Red Team Operations

Pen testing tells you what is broken. Red teaming tells you whether your team would actually catch someone operating inside your network. Same techniques as the threat groups targeting your sector.

Get Started

Can your team catch us?

Our operators run multi-stage attacks over weeks. The goal is to answer one question: can your security team catch us before we reach the crown jewels?

Learn More

We pick a threat actor relevant to you and replicate their actual playbook. Same tools, same infrastructure, same objectives, against your organisation.

We start already inside your network and test whether your team can catch us moving laterally, escalating privileges, and exfiltrating data.

Tailgating through the front door, impersonating a vendor, dropping USB sticks in the lobby. We test whether your physical controls hold up against someone who is determined to get in.

Your blue team works side by side with our red team. We attack, they detect, we tune the rules together. Real-time improvement of your visibility and response capability.

We simulate a real ransomware operator's playbook step by step: phishing email, domain admin, encryption, and data exfiltration. You see exactly where the gaps are.

Full

Kill Chain

MITRE

ATT&CK TTPs

Custom

Threat Profiles

Day Avg Operations

How It Works

A real operation, not a drill

Threat Intel & Planning

We pick the threat actor most relevant to your sector, study how they operate, and build an attack plan around it.

Initial Access & Persistence

We try to get in through phishing, social engineering, or whatever is exposed on the internet. Then we dig in and stay, just like a real attacker would.

Lateral Movement & Escalation

We move through your network, escalate privileges, and head for the objective. Every step tests whether your team notices and responds.

Debrief & Detection Tuning

Walk through everything we did, every alert that fired or did not, and give you a prioritised list of detection gaps.

How we build the operation

Modelled on a real threat actor

Every engagement starts by selecting the threat group most likely to target your sector. We study their TTPs and replicate their playbook.

Threat Actor ProfileFinancial Sector

APT-FIN-27 (Fictional Example)

Financially-motivated, active since 2021, targeting banking and fintech. Sophisticated social engineering combined with living-off-the-land techniques.

Initial AccessSpear-phishing with sector-specific lure documentsT1566.001

PersistenceScheduled tasks via GPO modificationT1053.005

Lateral MovementPass-the-hash with service accountsT1550.002

ExfiltrationHTTPS to cloud storage over legitimate trafficT1567

C2Domain-fronted HTTPS callbacksT1071.001

Case Study

Financial services firm discovers 72% detection gap during red team exercise

72% Detection Gap3-Week OperationFinancial Sector

They were inside our network for two weeks before the SOC noticed. OFFCEPT walked us through every step they took and every alert that should have fired. Within 90 days detection gaps were closed and mean time to detect dropped from over 200 hours to under four.

Head of Security Operations

Tier-1 Financial Institution

See if your team catches us

Your SOC dashboard says everything is fine. We test whether that is actually true. Full kill chain simulation using the same playbooks as the threat groups targeting your sector.

Get Started