Red Team Assessment Services
Simulate Real-World Cyberattacks to Test Your Detection and Response
Are your security teams prepared to detect and respond to a real-world cyberattack? Artifice Security offers Red Team Assessment services from Denver, Colorado, serving clients across the U.S. and globally. Our Red Team Assessment Services simulate advanced adversarial threats using custom-built attack models tailored to your organization. Our red team penetration testing mimics the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by real threat actors, helping you evaluate your defense, detection, and incident response capabilities across your entire environment.
testing types
What’s the Difference Between a Red Team Assessment and a Penetration Test?
While both services are essential to an organization’s security strategy, penetration testing and red team assessments serve different purposes.
A penetration test focuses on discovering as many security vulnerabilities as possible within a set scope and time frame. It simulates opportunistic attackers by “knocking on every door,” often loudly, to identify weaknesses in systems, applications, or networks. Penetration testing is typically scoped to specific targets, such as external networks, internal infrastructure, or web applications, and is conducted with the knowledge of your IT or security team.
In contrast, a red team assessment is a covert operation designed to test your organization’s ability to detect, respond to, and contain a real-world cyberattack. The goal isn’t to find every vulnerability, but to identify and exploit the path of least resistance, whether through phishing, wireless exploitation, external services, or physical breaches, to reach sensitive data or assets. Red team operations simulate Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and test your entire security ecosystem under stealth conditions, often without the security team’s awareness.
In short:
Penetration Test = Broad vulnerability discovery and risk validation.
Red Team Assessment = Simulated real-world attack to test detection and response capabilities.
custom solution
Custom Red Team Engagement Tailored to Your Environment
At Artifice Security, every red team assessment is custom-built to reflect the unique threat landscape your organization faces. We work directly with your team to align the engagement with your business objectives, infrastructure, and risk profile.
Our red team operators simulate real-world adversaries using industry-standard tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) inspired by known threat actors and current attack trends. This approach enables your organization to measure the effectiveness of your detection and response capabilities during a breach scenario.
By emulating advanced persistent threats, we help you identify:
Gaps in security monitoring
Breakdowns in response workflows
Organizational and technological weaknesses
To make the simulation as realistic as possible, Artifice Security uses custom malware, proprietary tools, and stealth techniques designed to bypass detection and simulate modern threat campaigns. The result is a clear view of how well your SOC, blue team, or MDR provider performs when tested by a determined adversary.
methodology
Red Team Methodology
At Artifice Security, our red team operations follow a proven, repeatable methodology designed to accurately simulate advanced threat actors and evaluate how your organization responds under pressure. With years of real-world experience, we tailor each red team engagement to uncover the gaps in your detection and response lifecycle.
Unlike standard penetration testing, our focus is not just on finding vulnerabilities, but on chaining together real-world attack paths, bypassing controls, and testing how well your security team detects and responds to stealthy adversarial behavior.
Your final report will include:
Comprehensive attack storyboards, detailing how the red team navigated your environment
Mapped attack chains tied to MITRE ATT&CK techniques
Breakdowns in your SOC or IR playbooks that were identified during the engagement
To ensure consistent results, every red team assessment is structured through the following core phases:
01
Define the Scope
Unlike traditional penetration tests that focus on what’s in scope, red team assessments define what is out of scope to maximize realism while protecting critical business functions.
Confirm which assets (e.g., IPs, domains, personnel, or facilities) are excluded from testing
Provide a list of red team “flags” (e.g., test objectives) to capture
Collaborate on test timing and acceptable hours for simulated attacks
Clarify rules of engagement: what’s permitted, what’s not (e.g., social engineering scope)
Issue a “Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card” for physical security testing and social engineering
02
Information Gathering / Reconnaissance
We begin with passive reconnaissance using open-source intelligence (OSINT) to simulate the early stages of an adversary’s campaign. This phase identifies data leaks, threat exposure, and weak links in your organization’s external footprint.
Harvest IP addresses, hosting data, and infrastructure components
Search for leaked credentials in breach databases and the Dark Web
Discover exposed files (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPT) with sensitive data
Scan for spoofable domains for phishing risk analysis
Perform basic physical recon, including wireless network discovery near facilities
03
Attack Planning Phase
Based on recon data, we map potential attack vectors and develop a multi-pronged intrusion plan. This stage bridges digital and physical attack surfaces to prepare the most likely paths an adversary would take.
Enumerate external IP ranges, subnets, and cloud assets
Analyze cloud misconfigurations (e.g., S3 bucket exposure, IAM weaknesses)
Map wireless networks: SSIDs, auth types, signal range
Develop social engineering pretexts tailored to your environment
Capture RFID badge data for physical access testing
Enumerate web application vulnerabilities for initial compromise
04
Attack and Exploitation Phase
In this stage, Artifice Security executes the red team plan, remaining stealthy and persistent while simulating a real-world threat actor. The goal is to bypass defenses, escalate privileges, and test your detection and response in real time.
Use leaked or harvested credentials to gain initial access
Pivot from external to internal systems
Exploit vulnerable web applications and cloud configurations
Breach Wi-Fi networks using rogue APs or credential attacks
Deploy phishing campaigns and conduct physical social engineering
Document timestamps for each attack to match with your alerting and detection logs
05
Reporting Phase
Our final report delivers clarity, precision, and impact. Every finding includes a proof-of-concept, severity rating, and remediation guidance tailored to your environment. We also highlight positive controls that worked during the engagement.
You’ll receive:
A C-suite-friendly executive summary that explains the breach simulation clearly
A detailed attack chain storyboard with dates and times
Individual vulnerability breakdowns with technical insight
Repeatable exploitation steps with reproduction instructions
Remediation recommendations aligned to your current architecture
A customer-facing attestation letter, if needed
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Red Team Assessment, and how does it differ from a penetration test?
A Red Team assessment is designed to evaluate your organization’s incident detection and response capabilities by simulating a real-world adversary. Red Team consultants operate stealthily, attempting to infiltrate your environment using the path of least resistance, whether through physical intrusion, phishing, or cloud misconfigurations. For example, walking into your building and exfiltrating a server may be more effective than exploiting a digital vulnerability and that’s precisely what a Red Team engagement seeks to uncover.
In contrast, a penetration test is more exhaustive and overt. It focuses on identifying as many technical vulnerabilities as possible within a defined scope (e.g., external network, web applications) during a set timeframe. Penetration testers often work openly with your security staff and perform manual exploitation to demonstrate risk, but without trying to avoid detection.
In short:
Penetration Test = Identify and exploit as many vulnerabilities as possible, no stealth.
Red Team Assessment = Simulate real adversaries and measure your blue team’s ability to detect and respond.
How many penetration tests should we perform before scheduling a Red Team engagement?
If your organization has never undergone a formal penetration test, a Red Team assessment is not the right starting point.
Red Team testing assumes you’ve already identified and addressed basic vulnerabilities across your infrastructure. At a minimum, your company should complete two to three penetration tests covering key areas such as networks, web apps, wireless systems, and cloud configurations.
Once your security controls are hardened and your team has demonstrated maturity in responding to common threats, a Red Team assessment becomes a powerful next step to stress-test your defenses and identify gaps in real-time incident response.
Can we correlate your Red Team attacks with our internal detections?
Yes. Artifice Security maintains detailed attack logs with timestamps for every phase of the Red Team engagement. These logs are provided after the assessment, allowing your blue team to cross-reference their alerts, logs, and SIEM data.
We also offer a post-engagement debrief, where we walk through each attack chain, explain your team’s response (or lack thereof), and provide recommendations to enhance your security monitoring and detection capabilities.
What are common Red Team tactics used during an engagement?
Artifice Security uses multi-layered adversary simulation techniques based on real-world threats. These may include:
Social Engineering – Crafting convincing phishing emails, voice-based pretexts (vishing), or SMS-based attacks (smishing) to lure employees into clicking links, opening files, or divulging sensitive information.
Network Exploitation – Identifying unpatched systems or misconfigured services to gain access and deploy persistence mechanisms.
Physical Intrusion – Bypassing physical security controls to gain access to internal assets or plant rogue hardware, often by tailgating or cloning RFID badges.
Web Application Attacks – Exploiting vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, or broken access controls to pivot into internal environments or extract sensitive data.
Each tactic is documented with attack chains, mapped to tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) based on MITRE ATT&CK where applicable.
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