What is Red Teaming
Red teaming is a methodology we have for conducting cyber security assessments in which an organization conducts a simulated cyber attack on its own systems, processes, or personal networks. The purpose of this cyber security assessment is to discover flaws in the organization and fix them. A red team is a team of skilled cyber security professionals who perform simulated cyber attacks, using techniques such as social engineering, phishing attacks, network exploitation, and physical penetration testing. Their end goal is to discover security weaknesses in the organization and fix them. This article is all about the Roadmap to Becoming a Red Teamer in 2023.
Define the Scope and Objectives
In scope and objectives, a red teamer defines the scope and objectives of the security assessment they need to conduct on an organization’s system, process, or network. Keeping that scope in mind, they perform their attacks and discover security weaknesses, and then provide a report or mitigate them. Defining the scope is crucial as it guides a red teamer in performing their attacks.
Conduct Reconnaissance
In red teaming, the second step we perform is conducting reconnaissance. In this step, a red teamer collects all kinds of information related to their target organization. One can collect this information using open source intelligence (OSINT), which provides publicly available information on the internet. Automation tools can also accomplish this task more efficiently. A red teamer gathers personal information related to the organization, such as employee details, email addresses, stakeholders, etc., which the red teamer can use to discover vulnerabilities in the target. After conducting reconnaissance, a red teamer has a lot of information they can use to perform an attack on the organization or target.
Conduct Vulnerability Assessment
Vulnerability assessment is the third part of red teaming in which a red teamer or their team performs a vulnerability assessment. In this step, they use various tools such as network scanners, vulnerability scanners, port scanners, etc., to find vulnerabilities in the organization’s systems, processes, or infrastructure. After conducting a vulnerability assessment, they prioritize the flaws/bugs/vulnerabilities and address them according to the organization’s policies. They fix them and update the system, which improves the organization’s security.
Develop Attack Plan
Developing Attack Plan is the 4th phase of red teaming, which is based on reconnaissance and vulnerability assessment. In this step, you gather all the information you collected during reconnaissance and all the vulnerabilities you discovered during vulnerability assessment to develop an Attack Plan. This plan should demonstrate to the organization practical exploitation using both manual and automated tools. You should also explain to the organization how they could lose by such attacks and how they can keep their organization secure.
Conduct the Attack
In Conduct the Attack, you execute an attack according to your plan. You must successfully compromise the system by using any vulnerabilities you discovered, whether through pen-testing, automation tools, network exploitation, etc. If you succeed in compromising the system, this step is completed successfully.
Post-Attack Analysis
Post-Attack Analysis is the 6th phase of red teaming. In this step, you analyze the results that occurred after the attack. You discuss with the organization’s team the exploitations and security weaknesses that were discovered to learn what they have gained from the exercise. How they can improve their organization’s security further.
Reporting Reporting
is the 7th phase of red teaming. In this step, you write a report documenting all the vulnerabilities you discovered during the red team exercise. The report must include a list of vulnerabilities and recommendations for how to solve them. You must present this report to the organization’s stakeholders. Informing them of any critical flaws that need to be addressed to raise awareness of how critical the vulnerabilities may be. The main purpose of the report is to document the organization’s vulnerabilities. Recommendations for fixing them to keep the organization secure from cyber threats. This was the 7th step of a roadmap to becoming a red teamer.
Remediation
Remediation is the final step of red teaming. In this step, you must fix all the vulnerabilities you discovered during the exercise. You work with the organization’s development team to fix the flaws in their system and network. That was discovered during the exercise. I hope you have enjoyed our article about the roadmap to becoming a red teamer. don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @masaudsec