Purple Teaming

1. Security Leadership

• Defines the ISO’s role, competencies, and mindset, including the different types of ISOs.
• Establishes the security organisation’s structure, charter, and board-level mandate.
• Aligns with industry standards and frameworks to develop a comprehensive security strategy.
• Covers setting up budgets, initiating security programs, and embedding the function into enterprise governance.

2. Security Culture

• Emphasizes that humans are the final line of defense and central to effective security.
• Promotes a human-centric approach through awareness, training, and behavior-shaping initiatives.
• Uses phishing simulations, access hygiene practices, and continuous reinforcement to improve behaviors.
• Encourages a feedback-driven culture of continuous improvement and user engagement.

3. Security Governance

• Establishes governance through policies, frameworks, ISMS, and the 3 Lines of Defense model.
• Defines risk management approaches, including qualitative/quantitative methods, tolerance, and appetite.
• Integrates compliance, audit, and control mechanisms to align security and business risk.
• Addresses fraud prevention, governance councils, and harmonization between compliance and security.

4. Security Advisory

• Advises on security trends, frameworks, and standards, supporting strategic and operational decisions.
• Applies a layered defense model and reviews risks across technology domains.
• Offers guidance on integrating emerging technologies and securing IT/OT environments.

5. Security Operations

• Aligns security operations with business goals through a service-based SOC model.
• Plans and executes incident and crisis management using structured detection and response frameworks.
• Defines SOC team roles and leverages platforms like SIEM, SOAR, and threat intelligence tools.

6. Security Reporting

• Delivers tiered reporting for operational, management, and board-level audiences.
• Ensures regulatory, legal, and external stakeholder reporting meets compliance obligations.
• Uses KPIs, KRIs, dashboards, and threat intelligence to communicate performance and risk posture.
• Follows best practices for effective, actionable, and transparent security reporting.

Key Objectives

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• Map Realistic Attacker Paths to Critical Assets
  • Model how adversaries would move across your environment to reach crown jewels
  • Simulate advanced, multi-stage behavior across on-prem, cloud, hybrid, and identity layers
  • Align scenarios with your business risk, sector, and threat landscape
• Evaluate Detection and Response Effectiveness in Real Time
  • Test detection content, telemetry coverage, and alerting workflows under live adversary activity
  • Measure escalation, triage, and containment performance in the moment
  • Validate coordination between SOC, IR, IT, and supporting functions
• Identify and Address Gaps Across People, Process, and Technology
  • Surface weaknesses in detection rules, playbooks, and analyst decision-making
  • Expose telemetry blind spots, control failures, and automation gaps
  • Prioritize remediation based on real-world impact, not theoretical risk
• Validate Assumptions About Controls, Alerts, and Workflows
  • Confirm that documented controls actually work as expected
  • Test whether alerts fire, escalate, and reach the right people in time
  • Validate runbooks, automation, and handoffs in realistic conditions
• Build Operational Experience Against Real Adversary TTPs
  • Expose teams to techniques aligned with MITRE ATT&CK and current threat intelligence
  • Practice detection and response against realistic ransomware, APT, and insider scenarios
  • Develop muscle memory, confidence, and team cohesion through shared experience

Business Outcomes & Benefits

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• End-to-End SOC Validation
  • Move beyond theoretical readiness with live, measurable testing
  • Evaluate real SOC performance against real attack scenarios
  • Establish a credible baseline of detection and response capability
• Full-Spectrum Security Control Assessment
  • Go beyond infrastructure to evaluate human behavior, playbooks, telemetry, and decisions
  • Validate detection rules, automation, and end-to-end response workflows
  • Provide holistic insight across people, process, and technology
• Intelligence-Led Improvement
  • Simulate APT-level threat actors using actual TTPs (e.g., Carbanak, FIN7, APT29)
  • Align testing with current adversary behavior and sector-specific threats
  • Ensure your SOC can identify and mitigate advanced, targeted adversaries
• Faster Incident Response and Playbook Tuning
  • Surface breakdowns in detection, escalation, or coordination in real time
  • Receive guided recommendations to improve IR workflows and cross-team collaboration
  • Deliver tangible, immediate uplift to playbooks, runbooks, and analyst processes
• Demonstrable ROI and Maturity Tracking
  • Establish a measurable maturity baseline using detailed benchmarking
  • Track improvements over time through flag-based scoring and mapped detection effectiveness
  • Provide executive and board audiences with clear, evidence-based progress
• Stronger Collaboration Between Offense and Defense
  • Break down silos between red and blue functions
  • Foster continuous learning and knowledge transfer across teams
  • Embed a culture of threat-informed defense and continuous improvement
• Accelerated Detection Engineering
  • Real-time tuning and creation of new detection content during the engagement
  • Stronger alignment between detection, SIEM, SOAR, and threat intelligence
  • Closed-loop feedback into threat hunting, content management, and CTI programs
• Regulatory and Assurance Value
  • Evidence of proactive, adversarial testing for regulators, insurers, and auditors
  • Alignment with frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF, DORA, NIS2, and sector-specific schemes
  • Stronger positioning for audits, customer assurance, and cyber insurance engagement

Key Features

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• Attack Path Mapping (APM)
  • Simulate attacker movement across real network, identity, and cloud paths
  • Illustrate how lateral movement, privilege escalation, and persistence play out in your environment
  • Identify toxic combinations, trust boundaries, and critical attack vectors
• Attack Detection Capability Assessment (ADCA)
  • Test SOC readiness to detect, alert, and respond to malicious behaviors
  • Combine live telemetry analysis with hands-on hunting techniques
  • Map detection coverage against MITRE ATT&CK and your threat model
• Command-and-Control (C2) Simulations
  • Controlled payloads simulate real-world malware behavior safely
  • Non-disruptive validation in production or production-like environments
  • Realistic replication of beaconing, tunneling, and evasion techniques
• Collaborative Playbook Assessment
  • Compare documented incident handling procedures with observed team actions
  • Identify gaps between policy and practice
  • Real-time coaching and refinement of playbooks as the engagement unfolds
• Threat Actor Emulation
  • Tailored simulations based on relevant adversary profiles
  • Intelligence-led TTP selection mapped to MITRE ATT&CK and your sector
  • Scenarios reflecting ransomware groups, APTs, insider threats, and supply chain attackers
• Real-Time Collaboration and Coaching
  • Continuous feedback loops between red and blue teams
  • Live guidance, reflection, and tuning during the engagement
  • Joint hunting, content creation, and workflow improvements in the moment
• Detection Engineering Enablement
  • Creation and tuning of detection content during the engagement
  • Alignment with SIEM, EDR, NDR, and SOAR platforms
  • Transfer of methodology and capability to internal detection engineering teams
• Executive and Board Engagement
  • Structured briefings before, during, and after the engagement
  • Clear translation of technical findings into business risk and investment language
  • Support for governance, board, and regulator engagement
• Alignment With Industry Standards and Eristotle Frameworks
  • Aligned with MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF, ISO 27035, and adversarial emulation best practices
  • Grounded in ISOBOK™, CWBOK, and Eristotle competency frameworks
  • Consistent, credible, and transferable approach across engagements

Deliverables

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Depending on engagement scope, typical deliverables include:

Engagement & Reporting Deliverables

• Assessment Report (PDF)
  • Overall engagement summary, attack paths executed, and scenario outcomes
  • Detailed breakdown of detection, response, and containment performance
• Attack Timeline & Replay
  • Step-by-step narrative of each scenario
  • Adversary objectives, execution timeline, and SOC response window
  • Visual and documented replay of critical moments

Metrics & Scorecard Deliverables

• Scorecard & Flags Report
  • Metrics-driven analysis of captured vs missed attack flags
  • Severity levels, response times, and process deviations
• SOC Maturity Benchmarking Dashboard
  • Graphical view of coverage across telemetry, tooling, detection rules, and incident workflows
  • Current, target, and benchmark positioning

Detection & Hunting Deliverables

• Detection Engineering Recommendations
  • Specific new or refined detection content based on engagement findings
  • Mapping to MITRE ATT&CK and threat intelligence
• Threat Hunting Hypotheses Pack
  • Hypothesis-driven hunts to locate additional or latent threats
  • Aligned to adversary TTPs tested during the engagement

Response & Process Deliverables

• Playbook & Process Improvement Recommendations
  • Observations on documented vs actual response behavior
  • Prioritized improvements for IR playbooks, runbooks, and coordination
• Workflow & Automation Enhancement Plan
  • Opportunities to tune SIEM, SOAR, ticketing, and collaboration workflows

Executive & Strategic Deliverables

• Final Presentation & Recommendations
  • Executive briefing on key findings and actionable guidance
  • People, process, and technology improvement recommendations
• Board Briefing Pack(where applicable)
  • Strategic narrative on posture, risk, and required investment

Enablement & Continuous Improvement Deliverables

• Lessons Learned Debrief
  • Joint red/blue debrief capturing insights, growth areas, and successes
• Purple Team Program Roadmap
  • Recommended cadence, scenarios, and scaling for ongoing purple team activity
• Handover & Enablement Pack
  • Documentation, knowledge transfer, and transition support to internal teams

How We Deliver

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The Purple Team Engagement is delivered through workshops, onsite or remote observation, and simulated threat execution. Our consultants work closely with your security team to tailor each scenario, ensuring relevance and realism. We simulate everything from phishing and credential dumping to lateral movement, privilege escalation, and exfiltration, using safe payloads and emulated infrastructure designed to protect production environments.

Throughout the engagement, we maintain a continuous feedback loop, enabling your SOC and detection engineers to learn, adapt, and improve while the attack unfolds.

• Discovery & Scoping
  • Engagement with security leadership, SOC, IR, and detection engineering teams
  • Review of current detection content, playbooks, tooling, and maturity
  • Confirmation of scope, objectives, scenarios, and success criteria
• Threat Modeling & Scenario Design
  • Intelligence-led selection of adversary profiles and TTPs
  • Attack path mapping to your critical assets and environment
  • Scenario design with clear flags, decision points, and success measures
• Rules of Engagement & Safety Planning
  • Definition of ROE, escalation protocols, and safety controls
  • Alignment on white cell coordination and secure communications
  • Agreement on payloads, infrastructure, and testing boundaries
• Collaborative Execution
  • Live simulation of attacker behavior across the kill chain
  • Real-time observation, coaching, and tuning with your SOC and detection teams
  • Joint hunting, investigation, and response exercises
• Continuous Feedback and Improvement
  • In-the-moment debriefs after each scenario
  • Tuning of detection content, playbooks, and automation during the engagement
  • Capture of flags, metrics, and lessons learned
• Final Debrief and Reporting
  • Joint red/blue debrief with key stakeholders
  • Executive presentation of findings, metrics, and recommendations
  • Delivery of detailed reports, dashboards, and improvement roadmaps
• Continuous Purple Team Program (optional)
  • Recommended cadence and scaling for ongoing engagements
  • Integration with threat intelligence, detection engineering, and red team activities
  • Pathway into related Eristotle services for sustained maturity

Sessions conclude with structured debriefs, flag reviews, and recommendations to strengthen defense capabilities based on real-world performance, not theoretical posture.

Related Services

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Red Teaming

Blue Teaming

Purple Teaming

Gold Teaming