David Bischoff, Head of Cyber Defense Consulting
Purple Teaming
Working Together to Improve Detection and Response
SECUINFRA combines attack simulation and operational defense.
Through coordinated exercises, we work with your Blue Team to assess how well detection, analysis, and response are functioning—and identify specific areas where your security organization can improve.
STRENGTHEN CYBER DEFENSES
What is Purple Teaming?
In purple teaming, the red team and the defending blue team work together in a structured manner. Together, they review coordinated attack steps, exchange observations, and investigate what information, decisions, and measures are missing for an effective defense.
Understanding the Entire Reaction Chain
Individual technical tests show whether specific controls are functioning. A comprehensive purple team exercise also reveals how well handoffs, analyses, and decisions work together. This helps identify gaps that arise only when departments work together.
Key Questions for the Exercise
- Are relevant attack activities being detected?
- Can analysts interpret the clues correctly?
- Do Alarms Lead to Coordinated and Effective Responses?
Purple Teaming is a collaborative approach—it does not require a permanent, separate team called the “Purple Team.”
PROCEDURE
Here's How SECUINFRA Works with Your Blue Team
The focus is on a structured exercise sequence that involves direct interaction between the two teams, with an emphasis on gaining shared insights.
1. Agree on Goals and Parameters
First, we define the scenarios, the scope of the testing, the constraints, and the capabilities to be examined collectively.
2. Perform the attack steps
The Red Team carries out the agreed-upon scenarios under realistic conditions. In doing so, it examines the interconnected steps of an attack within the agreed-upon attack chain.
3. Observe detection and response
The Blue Team monitors detection and response.
The Blue Team investigates available clues, evaluates alerts, and works with its existing runbooks and playbooks. It also documents any missed detections.
4. Evaluate observations together
Both teams compare their offensive and defensive strategies. This makes it clear whether, for example, a vulnerability arises in data collection, detection logic, or the processing workflow.
5. Document Findings and Plan Improvements
SECUINFRA documents the process and the results and discusses specific opportunities for improvement with you. Depending on the agreed-upon scope, a follow-up review may be conducted after adjustments have been made.
RESULTS
What Your Security Organization Gains from the Drill
Greater Understanding of Attackers
Your Blue Team can better analyze offensive moves and test their own assumptions through direct discussion.
Verified Processes
Runbooks, playbooks, escalations, and handoffs are examined in the context of specific situations.
Clarity on Visibility Gaps
This exercise highlights which activities can be identified in the available data and where information is missing.
Transparent Optimization
Documented observations and recommendations form the basis for further improving your operational safety.
When offense and defense share their knowledge, identified weaknesses are turned into concrete improvements.
David Bischoff, Head of Cyber Defense Consulting
EXTENSIONS
Additional expertise for specific issues
Depending on your objectives, you can bring in additional SECUINFRA specialist teams during or after the exercise. The supplementary services will be arranged according to your needs.
DFIR and Incident Response
We offer support during the exercise or a post-exercise evaluation of the incident response process.
Detection Engineering
An in-depth examination of audit log policies, telemetry, detection logic, as well as runbooks, playbooks, and remaining visibility gaps.
Processes and Compliance
Review of interfaces, responsibilities, and cross-organizational coordination. The focus is on how the planned processes actually function in the exercise scenario.
OUR PERSPECTIVE
Bringing Together a Forward-Looking Perspective and Operational Experience
At SECUINFRA, we approach purple teaming from the perspective of operational security. This collaboration combines realistic attack scenarios with the questions raised by your blue team. If needed, it can be expanded to include detection engineering, forensics, and process analysis.
We believe in professional dialogue on an equal footing and a collaborative partnership that allows for technical questions both before and after the project.
THE RIGHT APPROACH
Red Teaming or Purple Teaming?
Red Teaming
You want to find out how far a realistic attacker can go within an agreed-upon framework and how your defenses respond to that.
Purple Teaming
You want to gain a comprehensive understanding of both offense and defense, identify gaps in detection, and specifically optimize operational collaboration.
These approaches can complement each other. Which approach makes the most sense to start with depends on your initial situation and the goal of the audit.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Purple Teaming
The goal is to work together to understand and improve operational defense strategies based on specific attack scenarios. The focus is on technical detection, analysis, and response procedures, as well as collaboration among the individuals involved.
In purple teaming, the focus is on direct interaction between the attack and defense teams. In red teaming, on the other hand, the focus is on pursuing an agreed-upon target under realistic conditions and testing the defenses.
We need points of contact for the systems and security procedures to be tested, as well as time for joint evaluation. The data sources and detection functions that must be available are determined by the agreed-upon scenarios.
A fully in-house SOC is not a mandatory requirement. What is crucial is that the individuals responsible for monitoring and response are able to participate. For outsourced tasks, the service provider’s involvement must be coordinated.
Yes, provided they are part of the agreed-upon scenarios. We will examine what indicators the systems provide and how the Blue Team works with them. In-depth detection engineering can be arranged as a supplement.
Findings are discussed during the collaboration and subsequently documented. Whether rules or procedures are adjusted and reevaluated during the exercise depends on the agreed-upon scope of services.
Work together to define the appropriate framework for the exercise.
Please contact us and briefly describe your current situation. We will get back to you to schedule an initial discussion about your situation and the possibilities for a purple team exercise.
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