Services · Red Team
Cyber Red Teaming: test resilience against realistic compromise paths
A cyber Red Team exercise reproduces a real attacker’s progression through your information system: initial access, privilege escalation, lateral movement, all the way to an objective defined with you. It tests your technical defences as much as your SOC’s ability to detect and respond. BEAROPS runs these exercises discreetly, under strict rules of engagement. It is the digital component of the full Red Team exercise .
- Objective defined with you
- Strict rules of engagement
- Attack path report
- In French or English
Cyber Red Teaming is not an extended penetration test: it pursues a single objective, discreetly, and measures your detection and response. To choose, compare Red Team and penetration testing , or discover our penetration testing .
How does a cyber Red Team exercise unfold, from initial access to the objective?
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Reconnaissance
What an attacker can learn about you before acting
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Initial access
The resilience of your exposed entry points
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Privilege escalation
The ability to obtain higher privileges once inside
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Lateral movement
Internal segmentation and segregation
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Reaching the objective
Access to the critical asset defined with you
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Detection and response
The speed and relevance of the SOC’s response
What does a cyber Red Team really test?
Many organisations know how to prevent; few know how quickly they detect an intrusion in progress. Cyber Red Teaming measures exactly that: when your SOC spots the activity, how it qualifies the alert, how long it takes to respond. These indicators are often worth more than the list of vulnerabilities exploited.
An offensive exercise, strictly governed
Acting on a production system requires safeguards. Every cyber Red Team exercise rests on written rules of engagement: authorised scope, prohibited actions, testing windows, emergency contacts and a stop procedure. The approach is non-destructive and designed never to compromise the availability of your critical services.
What do you receive at the end of the exercise?
The core deliverable is the narrative of the attack path : the sequence of steps that, put end to end, led to the objective. Each step is documented and linked to the flaws exploited and to what could have stopped it. A prioritised remediation plan completes it.
- The complete attack path, step by step.
- The possible breaking points, where the chain could have been stopped.
- The detection and response indicators observed.
- A remediation plan prioritised by severity and effort.
Extend the exercise over time
A cyber Red Team exercise is in-depth but one-off. Your system, on the other hand, changes every week. Beareye’s automated Red Team continuously replays attack paths between two campaigns, to check that a fix holds and that no new route opens up. The two complement each other.
Frequently asked questions
How do you choose the objective of a cyber Red Team exercise?
The objective is the asset an attacker would really try to reach in your organisation: sensitive data, a critical business system, a highly privileged account. It is defined with you during scoping, according to your threats and priorities, then written into the rules of engagement. A concrete objective makes the attack path and the report directly actionable.
Is it risky for our production systems?
The approach is non-destructive and governed by written rules of engagement: authorised scope, prohibited actions, testing windows, stop procedure and emergency contacts. The exercise is designed never to compromise the availability of your critical services.
Should we tell our SOC?
Generally not, because the whole point of the exercise is to measure its real detection capability. A small circle of managers is nevertheless informed to oversee the engagement. Exactly who is told is defined with you during scoping.
How does it complement Beareye?
Cyber Red Teaming is a one-off, in-depth human exercise. Beareye’s automated Red Team continuously replays attack paths between two campaigns. One brings depth, the other permanence: they reinforce each other.
Let’s scope your cyber Red Team exercise
Describe the objective you want to put to the test and your environment. A BEAROPS expert will call you back to define the scenario, the rules of engagement and the quote.