A penetration test finds vulnerabilities. A red team engagement answers a harder question: if a determined attacker set out to breach your organization, would they succeed – and would you even notice? Persist Security’s red team emulates real adversaries end to end, combining technical exploitation, social engineering, and physical tradecraft to test not just your systems, but your people and your detection and response capabilities.
Most organizations have never seen their defenses challenged by a skilled, goal-driven attacker. A red teaming exercise measures what actually matters: how far an adversary can get toward a defined objective – domain admin, sensitive data, a critical system – and how quickly your blue team detects and contains them. The result is an honest, evidence-based picture of your true security posture.
We replicate the tactics, techniques and procedures of the threat actors most likely to target your industry – not a generic checklist.
Every engagement is built around agreed goals such as reaching domain admin, exfiltrating sensitive data, or compromising a critical system.
We measure how, when and whether your SOC and blue team detect and contain the attack – validating your defenses under real pressure.
Open-source intelligence and attack-surface mapping to build a realistic picture of how an adversary would approach your organization.
Gaining a foothold through phishing, exposed services or social engineering – exactly as a real attacker would.
Privilege escalation and lateral movement toward the agreed objectives, documenting every step and detection opportunity.
We demonstrate real impact against crown-jewel targets, then debrief your team with a full attack narrative and remediation roadmap.
Know with evidence whether your security controls and monitoring actually stop a determined attacker.
Every finding is mapped to ATT&CK techniques and tied to concrete detection and prevention gaps.
Purple-team collaboration turns the engagement into hands-on training that improves your defenders for good.
A clear, business-risk-prioritized report that gives executives real confidence in your security posture.
Our red team follows a structured, objective-based methodology: reconnaissance and open-source intelligence, initial access through phishing or exposed services, privilege escalation, lateral movement, and demonstrating impact against agreed “crown jewel” targets. Engagements can run as a covert red team, a collaborative purple team exercise with your defenders, or an assumed-breach scenario, and pair naturally with our penetration testing, phishing simulation, and incident response services.
The real value of a red team engagement is what happens afterward. Every finding is mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, tied to concrete detection and prevention gaps, and prioritized by business risk – so your security team leaves with a clear, actionable roadmap, not just a list of vulnerabilities.
Contact us today to scope a red team engagement and find out how your organization really holds up against a determined adversary.
A penetration test aims to find as many vulnerabilities as possible in a defined scope within a set time. A red team engagement is objective-based and adversarial: a small team emulates a real attacker trying to reach a specific goal while staying undetected, testing your people, processes and detection capabilities – not just your systems.
A purple team exercise runs the red team (attackers) and blue team (defenders) collaboratively, in the open. The red team executes attack techniques while the blue team watches, tunes detections and closes gaps in real time. It is one of the fastest ways to measurably improve your detection and response.
No. Engagements are carefully scoped and rules of engagement are agreed in advance, including off-limits systems and safety controls. Our goal is to emulate a real attacker without causing operational harm, and sensitive actions are coordinated with your team.
Most engagements run from a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on scope and objectives. Because red teaming emulates a patient adversary, it typically takes longer than a standard penetration test, but delivers a far deeper assessment of real-world resilience.
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