Purple Team in Cybersecurity – Understand The Role of Combined Testing Team

The purple team in cybersecurity is a part of the Cybersecurity Color Wheel. While the red team (the breakers or ethical hackers) and the blue team (the defenders) are included by organizations in the common practice of IT security operations, the purple team combines the strengths of these two teams.

Now, without further ado, let’s explore the role of the purple team in detail.

Red + Blue = Purple: Understand The Joint Approach by Purple Team in Cybersecurity

When an organization implements the security practices of ethical hackers, it exploits the vulnerabilities in the existing network. While the defenders work to detect and mitigate these activities.

Whereas the purple team aims to mature the security of organizations while constantly developing the skills and processes of both teams.

[Image Source: Deloitte]

Purple teaming helps companies in improving their security posture. It changes the team dynamic and culture, maximizing the contribution of each set of skills. 

Two Delivery Models of Purple Teaming

There are two types of workshops used in the case of purple teaming. Such as:

• Executive Workshop: An executive-level workshop that uses realistic threats and attacks developed by offenders to improve traditional “tabletop” and “paper-based” exercises.
• Hands-on Workshop: A combined technical-level exercise that makes use of the real-time responses of the blue team to risks detected by offenders. 

Purple Team in Cybersecurity – Exercises and Activities

A purple team works to strengthen the organization’s overall security posture by using a variety of tools and tactics to find gaps in the organization’s defenses.

The purple team will be involved in projects that aim to strengthen the policies, procedures, and safeguards that protect the business from dangers including phishing, malware, denial of service (DoS), social engineering, and password cracking.

Here are some activities that a purple team executes:

• Try and acquire sensitive information using sensitive information.
• Attack vital systems with cyber-malware and bugs.
• Investigate and attempt to use system and application flaws
• Test for system and network vulnerability
• Put together and execute a thorough security strategy
• Scan for vulnerabilities on a regular basis
• Locate security flaws and fix them

[Image Source: cyberhoot]

How Does Purple Team in Cybersecurity Work?

A large number of people must be familiar with the working of the breakers (red team) and the defenders (blue team). However, the role or work of the purple team is less known to people. 

The purple team plays an important part in maintaining the security posture of an organization. It can take various forms. The first is a group of outside security experts who carry out both the red and blue teams’ duties. In this case, a company might contract with a purple team to audit its security landscape completely. 

Also, the engagement will start with the purple team splitting into the red and blue sub-teams. Team members can maintain their skill flexibility by switching responsibilities rather than concentrating solely on red or blue. A similar situation might play out internally. A company may put together its own purple squad and assign security personnel to play the red and blue roles.

You know every team is made up of people and usually, people don’t always work in perfect harmony. And, by basic characteristics, the red and blue teams are opposing entities, so it’s natural to have competitive friction. Hence, that’s when the purple team comes to the rescue. It helps the primary teams (red and blue) overcome their challenges easily.

Benefits of Purple Team in Cybersecurity

The main aim of the purple team is to increase the organization’s overall security by jointly identifying the organization’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and developing, and putting into action plans to mitigate those risks. Several advantages result from altering the dynamics of the team:

• Enhancing overall cybersecurity more quickly: Purple teaming can be used to find security posture gaps and openings within an organization. The organization can deal with these problems by enhancing its policies, practices, and technological infrastructure. Working together makes it easier to address specific weaknesses and accelerate defense improvement. You can target attacks by using a smart approach.
• Strengthening the ability to find vulnerabilities: Purple teaming can assist security professionals in gaining a deeper understanding of the motivations and methods used by attackers, which will make it simpler to spot possible flaws before the attackers can make use of them. The overall security environment of your company is better understood by both teams.
• Works for a variety of sizes and types of organizations: Any firm can profit from purple teaming; it’s not just for big businesses.
• Gives constant feedback: Purple teaming offers a continuous feedback loop between the red and blue teams. That may be used to find areas that could use improvement and make sure the blue team professionals are in line with the updates.
• Creativity and innovation: When red teams and blue teams collaborate, their capacity to think creatively and come up with novel solutions is enhanced. New viewpoints foster innovation and a broader comprehension of cybersecurity. Experts in the red and green spectrum acquire “purple skills.”

Conclusion

To strengthen your company’s security posture, the blue and red teams are combined to form a purple team. The purple team in cybersecurity helps organizations mitigate the chance of cyberattacks with excellent collaboration, prompt vulnerability management, and fast vulnerability patching. 

In case, you are looking for professional help to assess your organization’s defenses or enhance them or any kind of IT security-related operation, SysTools’ cybersecurity experts are ready to provide their assistance. Consult them now.

FAQs

Q- What advantages does Purple Teaming offer?

• Improved Cooperation: Red and blue teams cooperate with one another to promote improved understanding and communication.
• Better Defences: Weaknesses are found and addressed more successfully when offensive and defensive tactics are combined.
• Realistic situations: Modelling genuine attack situations aids in comprehending and getting ready for potential dangers.

Q- What is the purple teaming process?

Teams collaborate closely, exchanging strategies and knowledge. Blue teams defend while red teams simulate attacks; both teams work together to analyze the outcomes. Refinement of security measures in light of discoveries is part of this process.

Q- Which competencies are required of purple team members?

Members ought to be well-versed in both defensive and offensive techniques (blue team skills and red team abilities). To work together and exchange findings efficiently, they also require outstanding communication skills.

Q- Is purple teaming limited to large businesses?

Because of the availability of resources, larger businesses are frequently linked with purple teaming; nevertheless, smaller businesses can also gain from a more straightforward form of purple teaming by customizing methods to meet their size and capabilities.

Q- What is the recommended frequency of purple teaming activities?

The frequency may differ according to the requirements and assets of the organization. A company’s risk profile and security objectives may determine how frequently it schedules exercises; some companies do them on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.

Q- What challenges do Purple Teams Face?

Making sure the two teams collaborate well and amicably is one of their shared problems. Further limitations may come from the time and resources needed for comprehensive testing.