DefinitionA Purple Team is the collaboration between offense and defense: the Red Team and the Blue Team work side by side, technique by technique, so that each simulated attack becomes a concrete improvement in detection or response.
How it works
A Purple Team is not necessarily a third team but a way of working. In a traditional Red Team exercise, the report arrives weeks later. In a Purple Team, the offensive team runs a technique, the defensive team checks right away what it saw, and both adjust before moving on. The shared vocabulary is usually MITRE ATT&CK, a public knowledge base of tactics and techniques observed in real attacks.
- Choose the threat relevant to the sector, based on threat intelligence.
- Build the emulation plan, mapping that adversary's techniques in ATT&CK.
- Execute and observe each technique in a controlled way, with the Blue Team watching.
- Classify the result: blocked, alerted, only logged, or left no trace.
- Adjust and retest: create rules in the SIEM and EDR, enable missing log sources, review playbooks and repeat the technique.
Purple Team vs Red Team
A Red Team covertly measures whether the defense detects an attack and delivers the result at the end of the exercise. A Purple Team works in the open: the goal is not to surprise the defense but to teach it. The two complement each other: the Red Team reveals the gaps; the Purple Team speeds up closing them.
Why it matters
The outcome is measurable: how many relevant techniques are now detected or blocked, where telemetry is still missing and which rules need tuning. It answers a question many managers ask and few tests answer: would the SOC detect a real attack?
At Network Secure, the Purple Team relies on the CTD (Cyber Timeline Defense) and Incident Response services.
Frequently asked questions
Does a Purple Team replace a Red Team?
No. A Red Team tests the defense covertly, without warning; a Purple Team works openly to improve detection. Many organizations use Purple Team exercises to close the gaps a Red Team revealed.
Do I need a separate Purple Team?
Not necessarily. Purple Team is a way of working between the offensive and defensive teams, which can be run by in-house staff, by a provider or by both together.