SAINTCON 2016 - Jason Wood - Red Teaming :Going Beyond the Technology

When someone says ""red team"" in conversation, what do you think of? A penetration testing team? An opposing force to practice a scenario against? It may also bring up the thoughts of the blue team that is in charge of protecting systems. There is even talk about combining activities with the red team and blue team and ending up with ""purple teaming"". But what is red teaming, what is it outside of the technical context and how can it be useful to us?
We will cover some of the different forms that red teaming takes during this presentation, along with some of the requirements that must be present for it to be useful. Take a look at the need to step back from a project, assumption or issue and apply a critical eye to it. It can be difficult to quantify the value that red teaming provides, but with some discussion and examples the potential value of it starts to become visible and thought provoking. If we are willing, red teaming may allow us to to spot and avoid potential pitfalls by taking a different view of things.