What's the Difference Between a Red Team and a Pentest?

The terms “penetration test” (or pentest) and “red team test” are often used interchangeably, but they represent distinct types of security assessments with different goals, scopes, and methodologies. While both involve ethical hacking to improve security, understanding their differences is crucial for choosing the right service.

In Short..

Penetration Test:

“Find the holes in the fence between points A and B at our facility in Germany. The guards will be meeting you and showing you where the fence starts.” (Focus on individual system weaknesses)

Red Team Test:

“See if you can break into any of our compounds in Europe and steal the valuable information without getting detected by the guards.” (Focus on overall security effectiveness and response capabilities)

Which One is Right for You?

Consider choosing a penetration test if the following are true:

• You need to identify specific vulnerabilities in particular systems or applications.
• You want to look for as many technical weaknesses as possible in a certain area and get remediation advice.
• You need to meet compliance requirements that often mandate regular vulnerability assessments.
• You have not already done a penetration test

Consider to go with a Red Team Test if the following are true:

• You want to do a fire drill-style exercise to evaluate the overall effectiveness of your security program.
• You want to evaluate a third-party security partner or software to see if they are doing what they are paid to do.
• You want to verify what types of attacks your security program would catch and what would fly under the radar.
• You are more mature in your security posture and want a more advanced and realistic assessment.

Often, organizations benefit from both penetration testing and red teaming. More mature organizations usually have in-house teams for these activities, along with external partners and contractors that get more eyes and experience and comply with regulatory requirements.

Can We Combine Them?

Pentests are fast and noisy: A core element of a red team exercise is often to test your security team’s unprompted detection and response capabilities. If your security team knows we’re coming, they will naturally be more vigilant and proactive. This means we lose the element of surprise and the ability to truly measure their baseline detection and response effectiveness in a realistic scenario.

Achieve Some Goals

A core element of the pentest is to identify as many vulnerabilities as possible within a specific scope. After running a project like that, the testers usually have significant knowledge about how a real-world attack would look. This would allow for adding on a semi-automated attack simulation that could show what is detected and what is flying under the radar, tailored to your organization.