With the increase in cyber-attacks and threats, businesses are looking for ways to improve their cybersecurity to stay safe in an increasingly dangerous world.
Many cyber criminals target businesses as they have access to more personal data, such as employee and client information, among other reasons.
However, as you focus on improving your cyber security, you’ve probably come across the terms blue and red teams. However, what does this mean?
In this article, we’ll look at these teams to see what they do for your cybersecurity efforts and how they’re different from one another.
We’ll also look at techniques used by these teams, such as location-specific proxies, like an Australian proxy, to identify threats. Click here to learn more about these proxies.
We’ll be covering the following topics related to cybersecurity:
- What is penetration testing?
- What is the red team?
- What is the blue team?
- Is Blue Or Red Team Best?
What Is Penetration Testing?
Penetration testing, also known as pen testing, is a cyber security strategy that simulates an attack against your computer system to discover any vulnerabilities.
In these situations, ethical hackers, such as red teams, come in and use a variety of simulated attacks, such as phishing and other ways to breach a company’s network and systems.
What Is The Red Team?
Red and blue teams are phrases often associated with the military. During training exercises, the militia is divided into two teams.
The red team is tasked with thinking like the enemy and formulating attacks they might use. Alternatively, the blue team is tasked with defending against these attacks.
The same concept applies to these teams when it comes to cybersecurity. Red teams imitate hackers and use the same type of attacks to test out a website and identify where any vulnerabilities are so that they can be addressed.
By taking an active role in depicting the attackers, they can show companies where any backdoors or other vulnerabilities exist that can be exploited.
Typically the red team consists of individuals outside the company, often freelancers specializing in ethical hacking. These individuals use many different types of attacks, from phishing to other social engineering attacks, to try and gain access to the business’s network.
Skills And Tools Used By The Red Team
These experts need to be creative and think outside the box. They also need a solid understanding of computer systems, networks, protocols, and libraries to plan their attacks. They also need a sound knowledge of penetration testing and the procedures involved to deliver good results.
These ethical hackers will also use tools such as password crackers, network mappers, and other hacker toolkits. They also use residential proxies to hide their IPs.
They also use location-specific proxies, such as an Australian proxy, to simulate attacks from other places in the world and make it more difficult for the business to analyze where the threat is coming from.
What Is The Blue Team?
The blue team is also responsible for assessing the security of a business network. However, instead of taking the approach from the attackers’ perspective, the blue team focuses on assessing network security based on previous attacks.
The blue team will await the red teams’ attacks and are then responsible for finding ways to defend and respond to these attacks.
They will change, adjust and re-group the current defense mechanisms to make them even stronger and able to withstand these attacks.
The blue team usually consists of in-house employees who are responsible for continuously improving and strengthening the entire digital security infrastructure of the business.
The blue team often incorporates the following steps in their strategy:
- Security audits, such as a DNS audit
- Log and memory analysis
- pcap
- Risk intelligence data analysis
- Digital footprint analysis
- Reverse engineering
- DDoS testing
- Developing risk scenarios
Skills And Tools Used By The Blue Team
Blue team members need to be able to cover backdoors and any other access points. They need to understand the different types of attacks and implement the best ways to deal with them.
These experts will also use proxies, such as a location-specific Australian proxy, to protect their IP, the business IP, and provide an additional layer of security and anonymity to the business network.
They also use numerous other tools such as honeypots, sandboxes, endpoint detection and response (EDR), threat detection, and more.
Is Blue Or Red Team Best?
In order to create a fully functioning and secure digital security infrastructure, businesses need to use both teams. The red team will point out any vulnerabilities, but they won’t devise ways to address them.
Alternatively, the blue team will be able to address vulnerabilities but won’t simulate attacks to discover vulnerabilities. Since these teams effectively work together, they provide a much more comprehensive solution.
Final Thoughts
Penetration testing, red team, and blue teams are all ways that businesses try to improve their cybersecurity.
By using these teams to simulate attacks to find and address vulnerabilities, you can start to protect your network and systems before you even get attacked.
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