What is a Purple Team in cybersecurity?
In response to the escalating risks of cyberattacks, cybersecurity teams employ a range of strategies and tactics to defend against attacks and mitigate potential breaches. To achieve this response goal, cybersecurity teams employ a variety of tactics, from offensive Red team exercises to defensive Blue team operations. But what is a purple team?
A Purple team in cybersecurity refers to a collaborative approach that combines elements of both Red teaming and Blue teaming to enhance your organization's overall security posture. Unlike traditional Red and Blue teams, which typically operate independently, the Purple team bridges the gap between offensive (Red) and defensive (Blue) security activities, fostering communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing between the two teams.
The Purple team acts as a facilitator, bringing together offensive and defensive security professionals to work closely together towards common goals, such as improving detection and response capabilities, identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, and enhancing overall resilience to cyber threats. By leveraging the strengths of both Red and Blue teams, the Purple team can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of existing security controls, processes, and procedures, and identify areas for improvement.
The primary objective of a Purple team is to simulate real-world cyber attacks and security incidents in a controlled environment, allowing you to validate your defenses, detect weaknesses, and refine their incident response procedures. This iterative process of continuous improvement enables you to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats, minimize the impact of security incidents, and better protect their critical assets and sensitive data.
What are the Focal Points of Organizing a Purple Team
To grasp the full potential of the Purple team, it's essential to understand its key objectives and the unique value it brings to cybersecurity operations.
Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing
One of the primary objectives of a Purple team is to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing between Red and Blue teams. By bringing together offensive and defensive security professionals, the Purple team creates a unified front against cyber threats and promotes a culture of shared responsibility for security.
Validation of Security Controls
Another key objective of a Purple team assessment is to validate the effectiveness of security controls and measures in place within an organization. By simulating real-world cyber attacks and threats, the Purple team can assess how well security controls detect, prevent, and respond to different scenarios, helping your organization identify gaps and weaknesses in their defenses.
Improvement of Incident Response Capabilities
Purple team exercises aim to improve an organization's incident response capabilities by testing and validating response procedures and readiness. By conducting joint exercises and simulations, you can identify areas for improvement in your incident response processes, such as detection, analysis, containment, eradication, and recovery.
Identification of Security Vulnerabilities
The Purple team conducts comprehensive assessments to identify security vulnerabilities and weaknesses within an organization's infrastructure, applications, and systems. By combining offensive tactics with defensive measures, the Purple team can uncover potential attack vectors and weaknesses that may go undetected by traditional security testing methods.
Enhancement of Threat Detection and Response
A Purple team should enhance your organization's threat detection and response capabilities. By simulating realistic cyber threats and attacks, the Purple team helps you improve their ability to detect, analyze, and respond to security incidents in a timely and effective manner, minimizing the impact of potential breaches and mitigating cybersecurity risks.
Red Team Versus Blue Team Versus Purple Team
In response to the escalating risks of cyber attacks, cybersecurity teams employ a range of strategies and tactics to defend against attacks and mitigate potential breaches. To achieve this response goal, cybersecurity teams employ a variety of tactics, from offensive Red team exercises to defensive Blue team operations. Unlike its counterparts, the Purple team seeks to bridge the gap between offense and defense, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing to enhance the organization's overall security posture.
- Red Team
- Focus: Offensive Security
- Objective: To simulate real-world cyber attacks and breaches by adopting the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of malicious actors.
- Activities: Conducting penetration tests, vulnerability assessments, and targeted attacks to identify weaknesses in systems, networks, and applications.
- Outcome: Red teams provide valuable insights into an organization's security posture by uncovering vulnerabilities, exploiting weaknesses, and testing incident response capabilities.
- Blue Team
- Focus: Defensive Security
- Objective: To defend against and mitigate the impact of cyber attacks by implementing security controls, monitoring systems, and responding to incidents.
- Activities: Monitoring network traffic, analyzing security logs, conducting threat intelligence analysis, and implementing security controls such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and endpoint protection.
- Outcome: Blue teams play a critical role in detecting and responding to security incidents, analyzing and mitigating threats, and maintaining the overall security of the organization's IT environment.
- Purple Team
- Focus: Collaborative Security
- Objective: To bridge the gap between offensive (Red team) and defensive (Blue team) security activities by facilitating communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.
- Activities: Engaging in joint exercises, simulations, and tabletop discussions where Red and Blue team members work together to assess, test, and validate security controls and incident response procedures.
- Outcome: Purple teams provide a unique perspective on cybersecurity by fostering a culture of collaboration and information sharing between Red and Blue teams. By working together, Purple teams help you identify and address security vulnerabilities, enhance detection and response capabilities, and improve overall security posture.
Purple Teaming Versus Penetration Testing
Traditional penetration testing looks to assess all potential vulnerabilities and other weaknesses within the scope defined. While this is valuable to your organization, what a traditional penetration test doesn’t do is provide your organization’s defensive team dedicated access with the attacker to replay attacks until they can properly detect, contain, and respond to them. When conducting a Purple team assessment, you will know what threats are going to be emulated and when the attack will come as well as against what specific systems or networks. Purple teaming allows you to work directly with the tester to monitor the response. If the detection and response is not sufficient, the event can be replayed with minimal drift from the first attack. This allows you to increase the alert resolutions as well as determine which logs are security relevant.
According to Randy Duprey, the Special Operations Group Manager at NuHarbor Security, purple teaming is significantly more focused than a traditional penetration test. Randy describes, “Let’s say I’m performing a traditional penetration test and I’ve got two weeks in your environment. I’ve got to provide complete coverage of the scope to identify as many exploitable paths as possible into the organization that I can. When performing Purple teaming I’m able to focus on what concerns the organization most, and work with the defenders to confirm they can identify and stop my actions.” By decreasing the scope and having a more focused engagement, the testers can work with the organization to ensure the correct detections are in place and the response timely. It also allows the Blue team to work with the tester directly to gain efficacy. As Randy explains, “The goal is always to bring the most value to the organization.”
What Are the Benefits of a Purple Team
The Purple team approach has emerged as a powerful tool in the cybersecurity arsenal, offering a unique blend of offensive and defensive tactics to strengthen security defenses and improve incident response capabilities. By promoting collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement, the Purple team enables you to effectively identify and address security vulnerabilities, mitigate risks, and enhance overall resilience to cyber threats.
Enhanced Collaboration
One of the primary advantages of a Purple team is its ability to foster collaboration and communication between traditionally siloed red and blue teams. By bringing offensive and defensive security professionals together, the Purple team creates a unified front against cyber threats, enabling teams to work together towards common objectives and goals.
Comprehensive Assessment
Unlike traditional Red team or Blue team exercises, which focus solely on offensive or defensive tactics, respectively, the Purple team approach offers a holistic assessment of an organization's security posture. By combining offensive tactics with defensive measures, the Purple team provides a more comprehensive view of vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and potential attack vectors, allowing you to identify and address security gaps more effectively.
Real-World Simulations
Purple team exercises simulate real-world cyber attacks and security incidents, providing you with invaluable insights into your readiness to respond to threats. By conducting joint exercises and simulations, teams can test and validate security controls, incident response procedures, and threat detection capabilities in a controlled environment, helping to identify areas for improvement and enhance overall resilience to cyber threats.
Knowledge Sharing and Skill Development
The collaborative nature of purple team exercises promotes knowledge sharing and skill development among security professionals. By working closely together, red and blue team members can learn from each other's expertise, share best practices, and develop a deeper understanding of both offensive and defensive security techniques. This cross-pollination of knowledge helps to build a stronger, more skilled security workforce capable of effectively mitigating cyber threats.
Continuous Improvement
Purple team engagements are iterative and ongoing, allowing organizations to continuously refine and improve their security posture over time. By conducting regular exercises and assessments, teams can identify emerging threats, evaluate the effectiveness of security controls, and adapt their strategies accordingly. This continuous improvement cycle helps you stay ahead of evolving threats and minimize the risk of security breaches.
What Skills Are Required for Purple Team Exercises
Determining the optimal timing for conducting Purple team assessments is crucial for maximizing their effectiveness and ensuring they deliver actionable insights to improve security posture. Several key factors should be considered when scheduling Purple team exercises.
- Technical Proficiency: Purple team members should possess strong technical skills across various cybersecurity domains, including network security, application security, cloud security, and endpoint security. They should be proficient in using cybersecurity tools and technologies to conduct offensive and defensive activities, such as penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, log analysis, and incident response.
- Offensive Skills: Red team members, also known as attackers, require advanced knowledge of offensive techniques and tactics used by threat actors to exploit vulnerabilities and infiltrate networks. They should be skilled in conducting reconnaissance, exploiting vulnerabilities, escalating privileges, and evading detection to simulate real-world cyber attacks effectively.
- Defensive Skills: Blue team members, responsible for defending against simulated attacks, need strong defensive skills to monitor, detect, and respond to security incidents effectively. They should be proficient in threat detection, log analysis, incident triage, and incident response procedures, and possess knowledge of security controls and best practices for securing IT environments.
- Communication Skills: Effective communication is essential for collaboration and coordination between Red and Blue team members during Purple team exercises. Team members should be able to articulate their findings, share insights, and collaborate on mitigation strategies clearly and concisely. Additionally, they should be able to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and leadership to facilitate decision-making and prioritization of remediation efforts.
- Analytical Thinking: Purple team members must possess strong analytical skills to analyze data, identify patterns and trends, and draw insights from complex cybersecurity scenarios. They should be able to think critically and creatively to anticipate potential threats, assess risk, and develop effective strategies for mitigating vulnerabilities and improving security posture.
- Problem-Solving Abilities: Cybersecurity is inherently dynamic and requires individuals to adapt quickly to evolving threats and challenges. Purple team members should demonstrate strong problem-solving abilities to troubleshoot issues, address unforeseen obstacles, and find innovative solutions to complex cybersecurity problems.
- Continuous Learning: Cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving field, with new threats, technologies, and vulnerabilities emerging regularly. Purple team members should have a desire for knowledge and a commitment to continuous learning to stay abreast of the latest developments in cybersecurity and enhance their skills and expertise over time.
How Is a Purple Team Structured
Structuring a Purple team involves carefully delineating roles and responsibilities to ensure effective collaboration and coordination between the offensive and defensive components.
At the helm of the Purple team are experienced cybersecurity professionals who oversee the planning, execution, and evaluation of joint exercises. These professionals often possess a diverse skill set, blending expertise in offensive techniques, defensive strategies, and incident response protocols.
Within the Purple team, members are typically assigned specific roles based on their areas of specialization and expertise. Offensive team members, often referred to as "red teamers," are tasked with simulating cyber attacks and threats to assess the effectiveness of defensive controls. Their responsibilities may include reconnaissance, exploitation, and penetration testing activities aimed at identifying vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
On the defensive side, team members, known as "blue teamers," are responsible for monitoring and defending the organization's network and systems. They leverage their expertise in threat detection, incident response, and security operations to detect and mitigate simulated attacks initiated by the Red team.
Additionally, Purple team exercises may involve collaboration with other stakeholders, such as incident response teams, threat intelligence analysts, and IT personnel, to ensure comprehensive coverage and alignment with organizational objectives.
Purple Teaming Mitigation Cycle
The Purple teaming mitigation cycle is a structured approach used to identify, prioritize, and address vulnerabilities and weaknesses within your organization's cybersecurity defenses. At its core, the cycle involves a continuous process of assessment, collaboration, remediation, and validation, aimed at improving security posture and resilience against cyber threats.
- Assessment: The cycle begins with the assessment phase, where Red and Blue team members collaborate to identify potential attack vectors and vulnerabilities in the organization's systems, applications, and infrastructure. This phase may involve conducting simulated attacks, penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, and other offensive and defensive activities to uncover weaknesses and gaps in security controls.
- Collaboration: Once vulnerabilities are identified, the Red and Blue teams work together to analyze findings, share insights, and develop mitigation strategies. This collaborative effort enables teams to leverage their respective expertise and perspectives to prioritize vulnerabilities based on their potential impact and likelihood of exploitation.
- Remediation: With priorities established, you can take proactive steps to remediate identified vulnerabilities and strengthen security defenses. This may involve patching systems, updating configurations, implementing security controls, and deploying additional safeguards to mitigate risks and reduce exposure to cyber threats.
- Validation: After remediation efforts are completed, the Purple team conducts validation activities to ensure that security controls are effective, and vulnerabilities have been successfully addressed. This may include retesting systems, conducting security assessments, and validating the implementation of recommended fixes to verify that security posture has improved.
- Iteration: The Purple teaming mitigation cycle is an iterative process that continues over time to adapt to evolving threats, technologies, and business requirements. As new vulnerabilities emerge and security controls change, you must continually assess, collaborate, remediate, and validate to maintain a robust security posture and stay ahead of cyber threats.
Purple Team Assessment Timing for Maximum Impact
Determining the optimal timing for conducting Purple team assessments is crucial for maximizing their effectiveness and ensuring they deliver actionable insights to improve security posture. Several key factors should be considered when scheduling purple team exercises.
First, you should establish a regular cadence for assessments, conducting them quarterly or bi-annually to maintain vigilance against evolving threats. Assessments should also align with your organization's threat landscape and risk profile, responding to emerging threats or changes in infrastructure. Integration with incident response planning is essential, allowing you to validate response procedures and readiness. Assessments should be integrated into the development lifecycle of new systems or changes, identifying and remediating vulnerabilities before deployment.
Assessments should align with business priorities, minimizing disruption to critical operations and ensuring stakeholder participation. By considering these factors and scheduling assessments strategically, you can leverage Purple team exercises to strengthen security defenses and mitigate cyber risks effectively.
Included Topics
Randy is the Special Operations Group (SOG) Manager at NuHarbor Security where he spearheads the team of Offensive Operators known as REDSEC. Randy spends most of his time working with the REDSEC team to ensure NuHarbor Security remains at the forefront of Adversary Emulation and strives to make cybersecurity easier for clients. Prior to joining NuHarbor Security, Randy spent 21 years in the US Army working in both defensive and offensive Cyber positions.