How can we protect our organization from phishing attacks? The role of Purple Teaming

Ivett Dobay

Phishing attacks exploit human vulnerabilities, making them a prime focus in Purple Teaming. By simulating phishing attempts, Red and Blue Teams assess defenses, improve incident response, and strengthen security strategies. Learn how continuous testing helps organizations stay ahead of cyber threats.

Cybersecurity threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and organizations need to continuously improve their defensive strategies. An effective approach is the use of Purple Teaming, which is based on the cooperation of the Red Team (offensive team) and the Blue Team (defensive team). One of the most common attack techniques is phishing, which is not only a threat in its own right but can also be a key element of Purple Teaming exercises.

What is Purple Teaming?

Purple Teaming is a cybersecurity approach that strengthens the cooperation between Red and Blue Teams. Its aim is to continuously improve the organization's defense strategies and incident management capabilities. While the Red Team simulates attacks, the Blue Team uses defensive mechanisms to prevent and detect attacks. The role of Purple Teaming is to identify opportunities for improvement by pooling the results and experiences of the two groups.

The role of Phishing in Purple Teaming

Phishing attacks are one of the most common tools used by cybercriminals because they rely on the human element. In a Purple Teaming exercise, phishing is presented as a realistic simulated attack to help you assess how effective your organization's defenses are against similar threats.

1. Launch a phishing attack (Red Team)

Red Team is developing a realistic phishing campaign that could include:

Sending fake emails
Creating phishing websites
Using social engineering techniques to deceive employees

2. Defensive Attempts (Blue Team)

Blue Team reacts in real time to phishing attempts, checking that:

Whether email filters detect harmful content
How endpoint protection systems react
Do employees recognize the threat and report it to incident management?

3. Incident management and response measures

If the phishing attack is successful, Blue Team will analyze the incident and take the following action:

Detecting and investigating an attack
Lock compromised files, accounts
Analysis: how long it took to detect and respond

4. Evaluation and development (Purple Team)

At the end of the exercise, the Red and Blue Teams together analyze the results and identify opportunities for improvement:

How many users clicked on the phishing link?
How quickly did the Blue Team detect the attack?
What security processes have worked effectively and where are the gaps?

Automated phishing simulations in Purple Teaming

Modern IT security platforms allow automated phishing simulations to be run to continuously test an organization's ability to defend itself. These solutions help to identify security gaps and provide the opportunity for ongoing training of staff, which is key to successful protection.

The integration of Purple Teaming and phishing simulations enables organizations to be increasingly prepared to defend against cyber-attacks. Continuous testing and incorporating lessons learned is key to strengthening the security strategy, as the human factor is often the weakest link.