Red Teaming E-zine
In this ezine, you will meet various Hoffmann Red Team specialists. They take you along on their daily quest to identify blind spots in information security. You will literally watch a reconstruction of some creative attack techniques, with the specialists candidly sharing how, by thinking like the enemy, they detect vulnerabilities and ultimately use them to take the security of organisations to a higher level.
Are you looking for an effective way to strengthen your organisation’s cybersecurity resilience? Is your organisation properly prepared for an organised (cyber) attack? Discover our red teaming service, based on technology, organisation and people!
Feel free to contact our red teaming specialists
Contactform 088-2986600 info@hoffmann.nl
Conversations with our specialists are always confidential due to our professional secrecy.
Red teaming is a method in which we create realistic scenarios to test the effectiveness of your security infrastructure. Instead of simply testing its technical aspects, Hoffmann’s experts go further by also considering organisational and human elements. With our methodology and extensive knowledge and experience, we help your organisation act proactively and stay ahead of any threats or cyberattacks.
Modus operandi definition
Modus operandi refers to the particular way of doing something—in this case, the way cybercriminals operate. They typically go big by looking for your organisation’s Achilles’ heel in order to penetrate deep into its DNA. They thus look at how they can disrupt security in terms of technology, organisation and people. Our experienced team of cybersecurity experts do exactly the same. By thinking like the enemy and adopting their modus operandi, we can expose high-risk processes and weaknesses in your organisation. Ideally, we conduct reconnaissance on your organisation’s potential weaknesses. We do so by using both open sources and doing physical surveillance of the site. In the process, we use the tactics and techniques that a malicious actor would also use. From this, the actual attack can be devised and executed.
Real-world red teaming operation example
After a Hoffmann employee obtains information over the phone, a Red Team member poses as a supplier to conduct initial reconnaissance of the premises. A third team member then attempts to gain access to the building and place equipment on the network there based on the information gathered. Next, a technical expert will try to steal your confidential business information from the network. Depending on the scenario, the attack will start silently and, if desired or necessary, it can take on a noisier character to trigger a response. During the process, we maintain continuous contact with the client about the progress of the attack.
Are your measures sufficient to keep our Red Team out?
Your organisation, like many others, probably invests a great deal of time and money in building resilience against cyberattacks. The benefit of these investments only becomes evident when a potential attack occurs. Here, the question is not whether you will be attacked, but when you will be attacked. Professional cybercriminals will do everything they can to circumvent every form of security. Even if that means taking advantage of your employees’ weaknesses and helpfulness. (Cyber) criminals are becoming increasingly creative in this regard.
Our Red Team’s approach
Humans
Our red teaming services focus on the human factor in your environment. Here, we use realistic attacks, such as phishing attempts and social engineering, to test the alertness and resilience of your employees. By designing and deploying various scenarios, we are able to observe and analyse your employees’ reactions to the threats. The outcomes of these actions form the basis for customised cybersecurity behaviour training and awareness programmes. That way, you will know how to permanently improve the security awareness of your employees and identify and avoid potential attacks more quickly.
Technology
In addition to focusing on the human factor, Hoffmann uses advanced technologies to thoroughly test the security of your IT infrastructure. Our experts conduct penetration tests to identify potential vulnerabilities in your systems, networks and applications. We use a range of methods to gain insight into potential technical vulnerabilities. We identify these vulnerabilities in a detailed report and provide you with recommendations for improvement. Our targeted approach enables you to take proactive measures to better protect the security of your data against cyberattacks.
Organisation
Besides putting the people and technology factors to the test, Hoffmann also looks at the organisational aspects of your security measures. We analyse your policies, procedures and governance structure using baseline measurements. Hoffmann identifies potential areas for improvement in your processes and supports your organisation in implementing effective measures to strengthen those processes. The aim here is to gain an overall picture of your (information) security landscape.
Implementation
The implementation of our work starts with jointly identifying your organisation’s most critical and high-risk processes. We then ask you to reflect on the organisation’s weaknesses. Where are those weaknesses located? How could criminals penetrate? And how is your security organised in that case? Hoffmann has over 60 years of knowledge and experience drawn from the vast number of investigations we have carried out. With this knowledge and experience, we can support you in the areas of people, technology and organisation. Together with you, we determine a sound learning objective for the red teaming activities and then plan a realistic scenario for implementation.
Next, we plan, probe and prepare, after which we execute the attack. In doing so, we adopt the enemy’s modus operandi; Hoffmann’s operatives think and act like they do. Our Red Team is constrained in this only by the limits of the mission.
After the exercise, you receive a comprehensive report with advice from our Red Team, in which we pinpoint your organisation’s vulnerabilities and make recommendations for improvement. As a result, you will be able to eliminate identified vulnerabilities.
Real-world red teaming operation example
One of our clients wanted to know whether it would be possible to launch an attack on their IT network from within. During the red teaming exercise, our specialists posed as printer maintenance technicians and placed a digital listening device on the network. With that, they were able to remotely hack the organisation from the inside and gain access to critical business information systems. Through this exercise, our Red Team exposed weaknesses in both the physical security and digital domains and shared them with the client.
What does red teaming achieve?
Once a red team test has been conducted, you will know exactly where your organisation’s vulnerabilities lie. They may be human, organisational or technical in nature, or a combination of those. As a result, you can take follow-up measures to eliminate those vulnerabilities and then re-test periodically. If you periodically conduct red teaming exercises, you will be as prepared as you can be for an incident or attack.
An additional effect of red teaming is that security awareness and employee alertness are enhanced when you share our findings with your employees from a positive perspective. It can lead to more alert behaviour on their part. This is important, as we know from experience that people are often the most crucial link in security.
Would you like additional information about red teaming?
Do you have questions, or are you interested in a red teaming exercise? Then please do not hesitate to contact us without further obligation.
Our specialists would be pleased to share their thoughts with you on this subject.
Or contact one of our consultants directly.
Contactformulier Red Teaming