- 01Dedicated red teams are expensive. Most enterprise security programs cannot justify one. The good news: purple-team value does not require a dedicated red team. Rotation, breach-and-attack simulation tooling, and periodic external engagements fill the role for smaller programs.
- 02Hybrid model: quarterly external red-team engagement scoped narrowly, monthly BAS-driven exercises across a small set of techniques, internal rotation (analysts spend a week per quarter on adversary emulation), detection engineering team owns closing of identified gaps.
- 03Tooling that helps: open-source emulation (Atomic Red Team, CALDERA), commercial BAS (AttackIQ, SafeBreach, Cymulate), and adversary emulation plans from CISA and MITRE provide the technical depth a small team can leverage.
- 04What this does not replace: an external red team will surface things automated tools miss — chained, creative attack paths that BAS does not encode. Use external red teams for breadth-and-depth, BAS for cadence and regression, internal rotation for skill development. The combination produces meaningful purple-team value at a fraction of dedicated-team cost.
Dedicated red teams are expensive. Most enterprise security programs cannot justify one. The good news: purple-team value does not require a dedicated red team. Rotation, breach-and-attack simulation tooling, and periodic external engagements fill the role for smaller programs.
The hybrid model
- 01Quarterly external red-team engagement, scoped narrowly
- 02Monthly BAS-driven exercises across a small set of techniques
- 03Internal rotation — analysts spend a week per quarter on adversary emulation
- 04Detection engineering team owns the closing of identified gaps
Tooling that helps
Open-source emulation (Atomic Red Team, CALDERA), commercial BAS (AttackIQ, SafeBreach, Cymulate, vendor equivalents), and adversary emulation plans from sources like CISA and MITRE provide the technical depth a small team can leverage.
What this does not replace
An external red team will surface things automated tools miss — chained, creative attack paths that BAS does not encode. Use external red teams for breadth-and-depth, BAS for cadence and regression, internal rotation for skill development. The combination produces meaningful purple-team value at a fraction of dedicated-team cost.