red teaming
Tactical Red Teaming operations assess the real effectiveness of a company’s defenses under extreme stress. Fidem’s offensive team carries out stealthy multi-channel attacks to test and compromise the resilience of corporate infrastructure in Italy and across Europe.
What Red Teaming Is.
It is an attack simulation carried out by experts to test an organization’s security. It includes advanced hacking techniques to identify vulnerabilities in systems, people and processes, testing the company’s overall resilience against real threats.
Why Red Teaming.
It helps understand how an attack could unfold, giving a detailed view of the weaknesses. This practical assessment lets companies improve existing defenses and prepare better for advanced threats, improving their response to security incidents.
Benefits of Red Teaming.
It offers a realistic assessment of the company’s defenses, the identification of hidden weak points and staff training. With this approach, organizations can implement proactive solutions to strengthen security, improve processes and optimize resources.
What do we detect?
- Risks linked to human behavior, such as how easily staff can be deceived by social engineering.
- Vulnerabilities in networks, systems and applications that could be exploited in a real attack.
- Failures in physical security controls, such as access protection or identity management.
- Gaps in data security, including potential exposure or leakage of sensitive information.
- Weaknesses in the incident response process and in threat detection capabilities.
How does it work?
- A complete attack is simulated, including phishing, software exploits and physical intrusion into buildings.
- Attacks are designed to bypass defenses, get around security controls and identify gaps.
- We combine social engineering, hacking, physical and digital techniques to test every vulnerable area.
- The activity also includes examining internal responses, monitoring reactions to simulated threats.
- We use advanced techniques to simulate real attacks against company infrastructure.
Red Teaming: the Realistic Simulation
Red Teaming is the most complete and realistic security exercise available. Unlike penetration testing, which focuses on finding technical vulnerabilities within a defined perimeter, the Red Team simulates a real adversary with a specific objective (access to critical data, compromise of the infrastructure, exfiltration of confidential information) using any technique needed: OSINT, social engineering, targeted phishing, physical and digital exploitation, lateral movement and persistence.
Objectives and Scope
Every Red Team exercise starts by defining concrete objectives agreed with management: “Gain access to confidential financial data” or “Compromise the industrial control system”. There are no limits on the techniques that can be used (apart from legal and ethical restrictions), because the goal is to test the organization’s real resilience, not compliance with a checklist.
Phases of the Exercise
Our Red Team methodology follows the full kill chain: Reconnaissance (OSINT) to map the exposed surface and identify human targets, Weaponization to prepare payloads and attack scenarios, Delivery through targeted phishing, exploitation of exposed services or physical access, Exploitation for initial access, Installation to establish persistence, Command & Control for remote control, and Actions on Objectives to reach the agreed target.
Purple Teaming
At the end of the exercise, the Red Team works side by side with the organization’s Blue Team (defense) in collaborative Purple Teaming sessions. The goal is to transfer the techniques used, identify detection gaps and improve defensive capabilities. Every technique is mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework for systematic coverage.
To plan a Red Team exercise, contact us. We will assess your organization’s risk profile to define the most appropriate scope.
Red teaming or penetration test: which one you need
A penetration test looks for vulnerabilities on a known perimeter. Red teaming checks whether you notice. It is the difference between “how many doors are open” and “how much time passes before someone notices and reacts”.
That is why red teaming only makes sense afterwards: on an organization that has not yet done an assessment and a penetration test, it produces a predictable and expensive result.
What is measured
Three times: how long it takes us to get in, how long before it is detected, how long before it is contained. The last two tell you whether your oversight works, and that is why the exercise interests those who already have a SOC.
Purple team: when it pays off
When the goal is not an exam but improvement: attackers and defenders work together, every technique is executed and you check immediately whether it raises an alert. You get more fixes in less time, giving up the element of surprise.
What is NOT included
No activity that degrades the service without written agreement. No techniques on people outside the agreed scope. And the exercise does not replace remediation: it produces the list of what did not work, it does not fix it. Glossary.
Definitions: red teaming · penetration test in the cybersecurity glossary.