Red Team Operations
Simulating Real-World Adversaries, Strengthening Your Defences
StrikeCyber’s Red Teaming engagements go beyond traditional security assessments by replicating real-world attackers’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Our offensive security specialists operate as advanced threat actors, simulating nation-state adversaries, cybercriminal groups, and insider threats to uncover hidden vulnerabilities in your organisation’s security posture.
By executing stealthy, multi-stage attack campaigns, we assess your ability to detect, respond to, and contain sophisticated threats before a real adversary’s strike.
What is Red Teaming
StrikeCyber’s Red Teaming is a full-spectrum, real-world attack simulation designed to test your organisation’s security resilience against advanced threat actors. Our methodology is modelled after nation-state, cybercriminal, and insider threat tactics, ensuring a stealthy, multi-stage attack campaign that mimics real-world cyberattacks.
Each engagement follows a structured kill chain, assessing your ability to detect, respond to, and contain sophisticated threats before they cause real damage.
Reconnaissance & Target Profiling
Before launching any attack, our Red Team gathers critical intelligence on your organisation’s employees, infrastructure, and digital assets. This phase helps us identify potential entry points and exploitable weaknesses.
- Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Gathering – Analyse publicly available data from sources like social media, job postings, press releases, and domain records to identify sensitive information that could be weaponised.
- Social Engineering Profiling – Identifying employees susceptible to phishing, vishing (voice phishing), smishing (SMS phishing), or in-person social engineering attacks.
- Network & Attack Surface Mapping – Enumerating external IP addresses, cloud assets, exposed services, and misconfigured applications.
- Threat Modelling & Attack Path Development – Crafting custom attack scenarios based on vulnerabilities and high-value targets within your environment.
Initial Access & Exploitation
Once reconnaissance is complete, we attempt to gain a foothold within your network using stealthy, adversary-grade techniques.
- Physical Security Breach Testing – Attempting unauthorised access to corporate locations via tailgating, RFID cloning, or badge forgery.
- Wireless Network Attacks – Assessing vulnerabilities in Wi-Fi encryption, rogue access points, and SSID spoofing.
- Phishing & Credential Harvesting – Launching custom phishing campaigns using weaponised email attachments, malicious links, and fake login portals to steal credentials.
- Malware Deployment & Exploit Delivery – Custom payload creation to bypass endpoint security, leveraging zero-day exploits where applicable.
Privilege Escalation & Lateral Movement
Once inside, we move deeper into your network to escalate privileges and expand our foothold. This phase tests how well your internal security controls prevent attackers from gaining domain-wide access.
- Exploiting Misconfigurations – Identifying weaknesses in Active Directory, network segmentation, and role-based access controls.
- Kerberoasting & NTLM Relay Attacks – Exploiting weak Kerberos tickets and NTLM authentication to crack passwords offline.
- Pass-the-Hash & Pass-the-Ticket Attacks – Using stolen credentials and hashes to escalate privileges without needing plaintext passwords.
- Living Off the Land (LotL) Techniques – Using legitimate tools like PowerShell, WMI, and remote admin tools to execute malicious commands without triggering alarms.
Detection & Response Evasion
A successful attack is one that remains undetected. In this phase, we test how effectively your Security Operations Center (SOC), SIEM, and Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) solutions can identify and stop sophisticated intrusions.
- Bypassing Endpoint Security – Evading EDR, antivirus, and behavioural analytics using encrypted payloads, memory injection, and sandbox evasion.
- Custom Command & Control (C2) Infrastructure – Establishing stealthy, persistent backdoors via Cobalt Strike, Sliver, or custom implants.
- SIEM Log Tampering & Obfuscation – Manipulating event logs to hide malicious activity.
- Abusing Legitimate Tools – Leveraging PsExec, WMI, PowerShell, and built-in Windows tools to avoid detection.
Objective Execution & Impact Analysis
Once deep access is achieved, we execute high-impact attack scenarios to test your organisation’s ability to detect and contain real-world threats.
- Data Exfiltration Simulation – Extracting sensitive files, databases, and intellectual property while avoiding Data Loss Prevention (DLP) controls.
- Financial Fraud Testing – Simulating fraudulent transactions, payroll manipulation, and invoice scams.
- Operational Disruption Attacks – Testing ransomware-like behaviour, service disruptions, and insider threat scenarios.
- Domain Takeover Testing – Attempting full domain compromise to determine the worst-case impact of a security breach.
Post-Engagement Debrief & Strategic Hardening
Once the Red Team exercise is complete, we deliver a comprehensive attack narrative, mapping out how we compromised your environment, the security gaps we exploited, and the attack paths we uncovered.
- Full Attack Path Documentation – Step-by-step breakdown of every action taken, including exploited vulnerabilities, command execution logs, and lateral movement techniques.
- Security Control & Response Analysis – Assessing how well your SOC, SIEM, and incident response teams detected and responded to simulated attacks.
- Detailed Remediation Plan – Prioritized recommendations for closing security gaps, improving detection capabilities, and strengthening internal defences.
- Stakeholder Debriefing Session – A live session with key security leaders to discuss findings, mitigation strategies, and long-term security improvements.
StrikeCyber Red Teaming Process
Our Red Teaming engagements follow a structured, multi-phase process designed to replicate real-world adversaries, test your security controls, and measure your organisation’s ability to detect and respond to sophisticated attacks.
Phase 1:
Engagement Kick-Off & Planning
The engagement begins with a kick-off meeting to define objectives, establish the rules of engagement, and ensure operational coordination.
- Define Scope & Objectives – Identify in-scope assets, testing goals, and attack scenarios.
- Agree on Rules of Engagement – Establish attack boundaries, restricted areas, and authorised attack methods.
- Communication & Escalation – Define contact points, emergency procedures, and reporting structures.
- Initial Threat Intelligence Gathering – Conduct reconnaissance on digital, physical, and human assets.
This phase ensures alignment between all stakeholders before active testing begins.
Phase 2:
Reconnaissance & Attack Execution
Our Red Team operates covertly, gathering intelligence and launching simulated attacks to establish initial access into your environment.
- Social Engineering & Phishing – Testing human resilience through targeted attacks.
- Physical & Wireless Intrusion – Assessing badge cloning, tailgating, and rogue Wi-Fi attacks.
- Web, Cloud & Network Exploitation – Identifying misconfigurations, weak authentication, and exposed assets.
- Custom Payload & Malware Deployment – Attempting to establish a stealthy foothold in your infrastructure.
This phase tests how well your security controls can withstand modern adversary techniques.
Phase 3:
Lateral Movement & Persistence
Once access is gained, we escalate privileges and attempt to move laterally across the environment, just as a real-world attacker would.
- Privilege Escalation – Exploiting Active Directory misconfigurations, credential reuse, and weak permissions.
- Living Off the Land (LotL) Attacks – Using built-in tools like PowerShell and WMI to evade detection.
- Command & Control (C2) Establishment – Testing covert persistence mechanisms and data exfiltration routes.
This phase determines how effectively your defensive tools and monitoring teams can detect hidden adversaries.
Phase 4:
Debrief & Strategic Recommendations
Once the engagement is complete, we provide a comprehensive attack report and debriefing session.
- Attack Path Documentation – Step-by-step breakdown of the tactics used.
- Detection & Response Analysis – Evaluating SOC performance and response times.
- Remediation Strategy – Actionable steps to improve security posture.
A stakeholder debriefing session is available to discuss findings, address concerns, and develop a long-term security improvement plan.
Phase 5:
Retesting (Optional)
Following remediation, we conduct a retest to validate fixes and confirm that identified weaknesses have been addressed.
- Re-evaluate Previous Attack Paths – Ensuring remediation efforts were successful.
- Identify New Vulnerabilities – Testing for unintended security gaps introduced during fixes.
- Final Security Report – Confirming strengthened defences and reduced attack surface.
Why Choose StrikeCyber?
At StrikeCyber, we go beyond traditional cybersecurity services to deliver tailored, cutting-edge solutions that empower businesses to secure their digital landscapes. Here’s what sets us apart:
Unmatched Expertise
Our team of seasoned professionals brings decades of combined experience in offensive cybersecurity. We’ve conducted high-impact penetration tests and red teaming engagements for various clients, including ASX-listed enterprises, government bodies, and leading organisations across Australia. Our extensive hands-on expertise spans on-premises and cloud infrastructures, web applications, and more, ensuring your organisation benefits from world-class security practices.
Innovative Offensive Strategies
We don’t just follow the latest trends in cybersecurity—we set them. By leveraging state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies, StrikeCyber stays ahead of the ever-evolving threat landscape. Our focus on offensive strategies allows us to identify and mitigate risks before they become exploitable vulnerabilities, giving you the confidence to operate in a secure environment.
Client-Centric Approach
Every business is unique, and so are its security needs. That’s why we work closely with you to understand your specific challenges and tailor our solutions to fit your requirements. Our collaborative approach ensures you receive customised, high-impact cybersecurity strategies aligning with your goals and objectives.
Proven Reliability
Trust and integrity are at the core of everything we do. StrikeCyber is committed to delivering reliable, effective, and scalable security solutions that safeguard your digital assets. Our reputation for excellence and dependability is built on years of successful engagements with medium to large enterprises, government agencies, and critical infrastructure providers.
Ready To Take the Offensive in Cybersecurity?
StrikeCyber specialises in penetration testing and red teaming engagements that deliver actionable findings to protect your organisation. Connect with us today for your free consultation and find out more.
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