Red Teaming

We simulate real-world attacks across systems, people, and processes to see how well your defenses hold up against advanced adversaries.

What is red teaming?

Red teaming is a form of ethical hacking used to perform a broad security audit. During a red teaming exercise, we impersonate a real hacker attempting to reach one or more fixed objectives, known as ‘flags’. For example, one flag could be to access your password-protected system and perform a transaction.

Social engineering test included

Security is a team effort. Even the most robust firewall is useless if your team members can be convinced to share access badges, keys, or passwords. That is why red teaming is not limited to checking your technical security. Just like real attackers, we also put human behaviour and business processes to the test. This technique – trying to obtain sensitive information through human interaction — is called social engineering.

Examples of Social Engineering

Following someone into a restricted area, for example asking them to ‘hold the door’…
Asking for a new access badge, claiming that the current (fake) one does not work.
Getting access by pretending to be someone trustworthy, like a handy man.
Leaving a virus-infected USB stick for a nosy employee to find.
Calling on the phone, pretending to be a bank or credit card company.

The Advantages of Red Teaming

Insight

Red teaming reveals how well your systems, teams, and processes can withstand a coordinated attack—providing a realistic snapshot of your overall resilience.

Awareness

By involving real people and processes, red teaming helps your staff recognize threats, follow protocols, and improve their response to suspicious activity.

Validation

Whether for internal leadership or external stakeholders, red teaming provides credible, third-party validation of your current defenses and areas for improvement.

When to Perform Red Teaming?

Before a Merger or Acquisition

Identify hidden risks and assess the resilience of both organizations to avoid costly surprises during or after the transition.

Periodically

Ongoing red teaming helps track improvements, test detection and response capabilities, and maintain a proactive security posture.

Third-Party Requirement

Some partners, auditors, or regulators may require independent, high-level testing to verify that your security is battle-ready.

After a Transformation

Whether it’s digital transformation, cloud migration, or infrastructure overhaul, red teaming ensures your new setup hasn’t introduced critical weaknesses.

How Red Teaming Works

1. Preparation

Together, we specify the goal and duration of the exercise and discuss which areas should be left untouched. After gathering information about potential threats, we craft a realistic attack scenario.

2. Execution

Once the plan is approved, we breach your security in a controlled way to see how your company responds. Like real hackers, we take our time navigating through the kill chain.

3. Reporting

We log all our actions along the way. Afterwards, we present our findings and recommendations in a language that all parties can understand. We identify the next steps and their priority.

4. Aftercare (Optional)

Optionally, we coach and advise you while you take the necessary steps to improve your security. After implementation, we can repeat the test to ensure that your security maturity has improved.

Red teaming in a nutshell

We keep your security system safe

At Refracted, we believe that everyone has the right to be safe in a digital world. That is why we dedicate all our knowledge and skills to keeping your security systems healthy. Just like power fruit, we boost up your immune system and protect you from harm.

Give your security a boost

Schedule a call with our digital security experts. We check your security so you can protect your company.
Because you deserve to feel confident and safe in a digital world.