Red Teaming

  • Objective-Led Attack Simulation
  • Detection and Response Tested End to End
  • Includes AI Systems and Agents

Data Defence’s red teaming service tests whether a real attacker could reach what matters most to your business — and whether your people, processes and technology would detect and stop them.

Red Teaming and Adversary Simulation

A penetration test asks: what vulnerabilities exist in this system? A red team engagement asks a different question: could a real attacker reach a specific business objective — your finance system, your client data, your administrator accounts — and would you notice in time to stop them?

Our red team works the way attackers do. They combine technical weaknesses, misconfigurations and human factors into a realistic attack path, and follow it towards an agreed objective. Along the way, we measure how your defences respond: what is detected, what is escalated, and what is missed.

The result is not a list of isolated findings. It is an evidence-based view of how an attack would unfold against your organisation, where your controls held, where they did not, and what to fix first.

Every engagement runs under a signed scope and written authorisation from you. Rules of engagement are agreed with you before any testing begins.

Book a Scoping Call
Find Out What an Attacker Could Reach
Book a scoping call. We’ll discuss your objectives, your environment and the depth of testing that fits, then agree a written scope before any work begins.

Who Is Red Teaming For?

comprehensive protection

Red teaming suits organisations that already test regularly and now want to know how their defences perform as a whole. It is just as relevant to boards and compliance leads who need evidence, not assumptions, that controls work in practice.

When it makes sense
  • Your penetration testing programme is established and you want to test the whole picture
  • Before or after major change, such as a merger, cloud migration or new operating model
  • Your board wants independent assurance that security controls work in practice
  • An insurer or client is asking for evidence as part of due diligence
  • You want to test your SOC or MDR service against a realistic attack
comprehensive protection

Red team packages.

A focused, time-boxed test of your Active Directory and Azure / Entra ID environment. We look for the misconfigurations and attack paths that would let an attacker move from a single compromised account to control of your identity estate. A practical starting point if you are new to adversarial testing.

An objective-led simulation of a realistic attacker against your core systems. We agree a target with you, such as your finance system or sensitive client data, and test whether it can be reached and whether your team notices.

A full attack chain, from initial access through to impact, including ransomware-style scenarios. It tests detection and response end to end, including how your team and any SOC or MDR provider handle a live incident.

Adversarial testing of the AI systems and AI agents your business uses. We test for prompt injection, leakage of sensitive data, and agents being manipulated into actions they should not take.

An extended, intelligence-led campaign for mature security teams, reflecting how a well-resourced, persistent attacker would target your organisation over time. Every package is scoped to your objectives; durations are typical, not fixed.

How an Engagement Works

Every engagement follows the same controlled process, agreed with you in writing.

Six steps
  • Scoping call to agree your objectives, scope and timings
  • Rules of engagement and written authorisation, signed before testing starts
  • Testing, as our team works towards the agreed objective
  • Debrief, walking your team through what happened and why
  • Report with prioritised remediation
  • Optional retest to confirm your fixes are effective

What You Get

Clear outputs for your board and your technical team.

Deliverables
  • Executive summary for the board, in plain English
  • Technical report with evidence for each finding
  • Remediation roadmap, prioritised by risk
  • Debrief session with your team
Book a Scoping Call

Ready to test your defences?

Talk to us about your objectives and we’ll recommend the right depth of testing for your organisation.

Book a Scoping Call
why datadefence

Why Data Defence

why datadefence

Data Defence is an independent, CISO-led consultancy. We scope each engagement around your business risks, not a generic test plan.

When testing ends, we don’t hand over a report and walk away. We turn the findings into a prioritised remediation plan and, if you want, help you deliver it, alongside your own team or through our managed services.

Contact Us

Your questions, answered.

A penetration test looks for as many vulnerabilities as possible within an agreed scope. A red team engagement has a business objective, such as reaching sensitive data, and tests whether an attacker could get there and whether your defences would detect and stop them. Most organisations benefit from regular penetration testing first.

Testing is planned to keep the risk of disruption low. The rules of engagement set out what is in and out of scope, which techniques are permitted and when testing takes place. Anything that could affect live services is agreed with you in advance.

Usually a small group, often called the white team, knows the test is running. This keeps the exercise realistic for your defenders, while giving you a route to raise concerns or confirm activity during testing.

AI systems and agents bring new risks: prompt injection, leakage of sensitive data, and agents being manipulated into taking actions they should not. AI red teaming tests the AI tools your business uses against these attacks, so you can adopt them with confidence.

From around five days for a focused Breach Sprint to around fifty days for an extended Adversary Prime campaign. The right depth depends on your objectives and security maturity, and we agree it with you at scoping.

An executive summary for your board, a technical report with evidence for each finding, a remediation roadmap prioritised by risk, and a debrief session with your team. An optional retest confirms that fixes are effective.