Red team services to strengthen your cyber defences 

A typical Red Team engagement involves three core groups: 

• Control Group – Trusted representatives from the client who oversee and coordinate the engagement. 

• Red Team – The offensive team responsible for planning and executing realistic, threat-led attack simulations. 

• Blue Team – The client’s internal security team or third-party defenders tasked with detecting, responding to, and mitigating threats (often unaware of the exercise in advance). 

In regulated frameworks like DORA, TIBER-EU, or STAR, additional participants may include regulatory bodies, Threat Intelligence providers, and independent regulating bodies to ensure compliance and realism. 

Absolutely. We actively encourage collaboration with in-house Blue Teams. Coordinated Red Team exercises are an excellent way to validate existing security controls and identify real-world attack paths that could lead to compromise. 

Enhancing your defensive capabilities is central to our Red Team philosophy. For organisations focused on improving detection and response, we also offer fully collaborative Purple Team engagements. 

Red Teaming is ideal for organisations with mature security controls and regular penetration testing in place. However, businesses at any stage can benefit from a tailored engagement. 

Our consultants will assess your current security posture and recommend the most effective approach based on your goals and requirements — ensuring you get maximum value from the exercise. 

The duration depends on the scope, objectives, and organisational maturity. A typical non-regulated Red Team engagement lasts 4 to 12 weeks, with flexibility to use streamlined approaches such as Assumed Breach to reduce complexity and shorten timelines. 

For regulated frameworks like TIBER, DORA, or STAR, we strictly follow defined timelines and phases. These engagements usually span multiple months, with active testing windows often lasting around 12 weeks, though this can vary by framework and scope. 

Effective preparation starts with clear planning. Defining your learning objectives, desired outcomes, and identifying critical systems or functions you want tested will help us tailor realistic and relevant attack scenarios to your organisation. 

The more clarity you provide upfront, the more value and insight the engagement will deliver. If you're ever in doubt feel free to reach out to us for a no obligation chat to discuss approaches and options best suited for your organisation. 

Bulletproof is a CREST STAR-accredited organisation, with certified CCRTS team members and a structured team of Leads and Operators. We actively deliver engagements under the TIBER-EU, DORA, and STAR frameworks, ensuring compliance with industry and regulatory standards. 

No. While both assess security, penetration testing focuses on finding technical vulnerabilities in specific systems. Red Teaming or Threat Led Testing simulates real-world attack scenarios across multiple vectors to test detection, response, and resilience of your entire organisation including people, processes, and technology. 

We emulate realistic threats such as phishing, social engineering, initial access via exposed systems or services, lateral movement, privilege escalation, data exfiltration and ransomware scenarios, all based on threat intelligence and your sector's risk profile. 

You’ll receive a detailed report within our interactive reporting portal and a PDF copy covering attack paths, vulnerabilities exploited, engagement timelines, and actionable recommendations. We also conduct a full debrief with stakeholders and run workshops with your Blue Team to improve defences, foster collaboration and deliver on key learning objectives. 

Yes. We align engagements with your risk profile, industry-specific threats, and compliance requirements. Whether you need to simulate a nation-state threat, meet DORA regulations, or focus on insider risks we’ll build a scenario that fits. 

Typically not. To accurately simulate a real-world threat, Red Team engagements are conducted covertly, with only a small control group aware. This helps assess your organisation’s true detection and response capabilities.