Defensive Security Handbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 20. OSINT and Purple Teaming

Have you ever watched a sports team practice? You’ve got your main team, and then there’s this “scrimmage” team playing against them. It’s not about winning or losing but rather about honing skills, finding weaknesses, and preparing for real games. Now, imagine something similar, but in the cybersecurity world. That’s where purple teaming comes into play.

Picture your company’s security operations staff as the main team, dressed in blue (the blue team). Now, in place of a scrimmage team, you’ve got a red team pretending to be cyber bad guys trying to find cracks in your cyber defenses. This is often an ongoing exercise, so it differs a little from a penetration test, which is usually held in a defined time period with a defined scope of systems to attack.

Purple teaming—where red meets blue—is like a friendly match between the red team (simulated attackers) and the blue team (the defenders). Only we’re not playing football or basketball; the field is your organization’s security. It’s a constant learning process, with the defenders trying to get the hang of the attackers’ strategies and the attackers trying to figure out what they’re up against. It’s like a never-ending dress rehearsal for a potential cyberattack. Sounds intense, right?

So what’s the big deal, and why engage in this exercise? Purple teaming brings a bunch of benefits to the table. It helps your security team anticipate threats, discover vulnerabilities, and improve their defensive ...