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Cybersecurity vocabulary · Penetration Testing

Red team

Meaning in cybersecurity, with examples

nounCommon term

In cybersecurity, red team means: A group of security specialists who act like real attackers, using any approved method, to test how well an organisation can detect and stop them.

In Turkish: kırmızı takım, red team

How it is used

A red team exercise is longer and more goal-based than a normal pentest and often tests people and processes, not just technology. The defenders are the blue team; when both sides work together openly, it is called purple teaming.

Example sentences

  1. The red team reached the finance share without triggering a single alert.

  2. We are planning a three-week red team exercise for the autumn.

Common collocations

  • red team exercise
  • red team engagement
  • red teaming
  • purple teaming
  • blue teamThe defenders in a security exercise, or more generally the people who protect, monitor and respond, such as SOC analysts and incident responders.
  • penetration testAn authorised, simulated attack on a system, application or network, carried out by security specialists to find weaknesses before real attackers do.
  • rules of engagementThe agreed conditions of a security test: what may be tested, when, with which methods and whom to contact if something goes wrong.
  • ethical hackerA security professional who uses attackers' skills and methods, with the owner's written permission, to find and report weaknesses so that they can be fixed.

More terms: Penetration Testing

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