Red Team Vendor Evaluation Worksheet
The Red Team Vendor Evaluation Matrix Worksheet is designed to help security leaders evaluate red team vendors thoughtfully before engagement using a structured, question-driven approach.
Selecting the right red team vendor is a high-impact security decision. The quality of your red teaming partner directly affects how well you understand real-world risk, validate defenses, and make confident security investments. The Red Team Vendor Evaluation Matrix Worksheet is designed to help security leaders evaluate red team vendors thoughtfully before engagement using a structured, question-driven approach.
This worksheet helps organizations move beyond surface-level comparisons like tooling, scope, or price. Instead, it focuses on how red team vendors think, plan, and deliver value. It guides evaluators through eight core evaluation dimensions that matter most in modern red teaming programs:
Objectives and intent alignment
- Scenario design and attacker goal modeling
- Threat modeling and adversary relevance
- Evidence quality and decision support
- People and process validation including SOC, IR, and MSSP
- Cloud, SaaS, and modern environment coverage
- Reporting quality and deliverables
- Engagement style and long-term partnership approach
Each section includes targeted evaluation questions to help security teams pressure-test vendor claims, identify tradeoffs, and uncover gaps that are not always visible in proposals or sales conversations.
After completing the evaluation questions, teams use the Vendor Evaluation Matrix to synthesize their findings. A simple confidence-based scoring model makes it easy to compare up to four red team vendors side by side while preserving qualitative judgment through notes and evidence. The result is a clearer, more defensible vendor selection process without reducing complex decisions to a checkbox exercise.
Built for CISOs, security leaders, red team managers, and procurement stakeholders, this worksheet supports smarter red team vendor selection by emphasizing realistic adversary emulation, actionable reporting, and business-relevant outcomes. Whether you are selecting your first red team provider or reassessing existing red teaming services, this worksheet helps ensure your investment delivers insight, not just activity.
