PURPLE TEAMING: RED TEAM AND BLUE TEAM IN ACTION

Purple teaming is not a standalone engagement or a new team—it is a collaborative methodology where red and blue teams work side-by-side to:

• Share tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)
• Test detection logic in real time
• Walk through attack chains from initial access to objective completion
• Tune playbooks based on observed gaps

Unlike traditional red team engagements where the blue team may be unaware of testing until after the fact, purple teaming is cooperative. It emphasizes knowledge transfer and process refinement through continuous feedback.

Purple teaming improves not just technology performance, but also communication and coordination between teams.

1. Accelerated Detection Engineering
   Purple teaming helps teams validate and tune detection rules immediately. As red team operators execute specific techniques, blue team defenders adjust log sources, correlation logic, and alert thresholds to ensure high-fidelity detection.
2. Immediate Feedback Loops
   Each stage of the attack chain is discussed in detail in real time. This immediate feedback helps defenders understand how attacks appear in telemetry, while giving red teams insight into how their methods are being observed and countered.
3. Threat-Informed Defense
   Purple teaming aligns detection and response improvements to known threat actor behaviors. Engagements can emulate any number of relevant threat actors, from ransomware groups to state-sponsored espionage actors, allowing defenders to sharpen capabilities against their most likely adversaries.
4. Improved SOC Confidence and Capability
   SOC analysts learn from direct exposure to adversary TTPs. Instead of hypothetical training scenarios, they experience the signals that real-world attacks generate. This builds operational confidence while also improving triage workflows and alert handling.
5. Measurement and Benchmarking
   Purple team exercises provide a way to benchmark progress. By tracking key metrics, like the number of detection gaps that have been closed and faster response times, organizations can benchmark their improvements from one engagement to the next.

Organizations benefit from purple teaming when:

• The detection program is in place but needs tuning
• Red team exercises consistently bypass detection
• New tools or log sources are being deployed (e.g., EDR, SIEM, XDR)
• Threat actor emulation is prioritized for high-risk scenarios
• The SOC requires hands-on exposure to real attack sequences

Purple teaming is particularly effective after a red team engagement to operationalize findings and strengthen defenses quickly.

A typical purple team engagement follows this structure:

1. Planning and Threat Mapping
   Define attacker objectives, techniques, and phases aligned to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
2. Live Execution
   Red team performs one or more techniques while blue team monitors and responds. Results are recorded in real time.
3. Tuning and Improvement
   Detection logic, log sources, alert thresholds, and visibility gaps are addressed immediately with blue team input.
4. Documentation and Debrief
   Final reports include metrics for improvement and recommendations for future exercises.
5. Repeat
   Techniques are retested to confirm effectiveness and ensure readiness across new environments or scenarios.

Purple teaming helps organizations:

• Build bridges between security engineering, operations, and incident response
• Maximize ROI on red team engagements by translating findings into defense improvements
• Develop sustainable and repeatable, threat-informed detection practices
• Foster a collaborative security culture that evolves with the threat landscape