Posted by: Hasan Sameer
March 3, 2023
Red teaming is basically an objective-oriented cybersecurity assessment. The end goal of a red-team assessment is to get access to a particular set of data or a specific folder. This specific spot the infrastructure to locate is determined by the client before the process begins. Security consultants then design the assessment around the client’s requirements. Complete awareness and involvement of the key stakeholders is important to ensure the success of a red teaming exercise. The IT security teams at the client organization treat the red team as a real adversary and respond and defend their networks accordingly.
of organizations say that red teaming is more effective than blue teaming assessments.
of respondents in a survey said that red teaming assessments do not have much impact on the security budget of the company.
of companies do not have sufficient cybersecurity measures in place to protect their systems.
is the estimated CAGR of the global network security market from 2021 to 2028.
Although both are cybersecurity processes. Both are done to improve the security posture of an infrastructure. But Red Teaming and vapt cyber security are different from each other in a lot of aspects. Let us have a close look at these differences…
The following is the categoric comparison between VAPT and Red teaming:
The key difference between these processes is in the intent of engagement. Organizations execute VAPT assessments to find as many security gaps as possible. The job of the pen testers is to exploit and determine each vulnerability’s risk level. On the other hand, Red Teams work with a narrow penetrative approach. Their task is to find an entry point in your system. Then they need to escalate it through the most crucial part of the infrastructure that they can access.
VAPT and Red Teaming assessments have different rules to play by. There are six different types of vapt testing. Most VAPT assessments are only focused on one or two areas per engagement. As the scope of pen testing is narrow, the focus is on a few specific attack vectors. The Red Team attacks have more freedom in this aspect. Their job is to just find a way in. They can use whatever attack vector they find the best.
Red team assessments operate with a broader scope. So, they enjoy access to a broader set of resources. There are more penetration testers working in a red team engagement. This demands more tools, technologies, and even more time. Therefore, the resource allocation for red teaming is always greater than VAPT assessments.
VAPT has the purpose of finding and exploiting the vulnerabilities within the systems. This type of assessment usually takes 2-3 weeks to deliver the final results. Whereas red teaming works on the exploitation in a much deeper way. It may last longer than VAPT. A typical red teaming project takes 3-6 weeks depending upon the size and complexity of the systems under testing.
The process of VAPT assessment is done openly on the target systems. Pen testing teams need to find and exploit as many vulnerabilities as they can in a given time span. The red team engagements work more stealthily as compared to VAPT. They work secretively as they are after more sensitive data.
As red teaming requires more time and resources, it is obviously more expensive than VAPT. The average starting cost for a red teaming project is around $40,000. You can get a comprehensive VAPT process done within that much amount of money.
VAPT assessment is the primary security measure for most organizations. It is always recommended to go with VAPT as the first choice. It can solve most of the security issues within your cyber infrastructure.
Red Teaming is always an alternative to fill for some of the rare limitations that VAPT has. It is for a deep recreation and analysis of actual threats. Otherwise, VAPT assessment is the best way to move forward with cyber security testing.
