Building an Effective Purple Team Program from Scratch

What is Purple Teaming?

Purple teaming is the collaborative practice of red team (offensive) and blue team (defensive) operators working together to improve security. Unlike traditional red team engagements where defenders are in the dark, purple teaming is transparent and educational.

The AlphaONE Purple Team Methodology

Phase 1: Baseline Assessment

Before you can improve, you need to understand your current state. We assess:

  • Detection coverage across the MITRE ATT&CK framework
  • Mean time to detect (MTTD) and respond (MTTR)
  • Security tool configuration and tuning

Phase 2: Attack Simulation

Our operators execute controlled attacks aligned to relevant threat actor TTPs:

  • Initial access techniques
  • Lateral movement
  • Privilege escalation
  • Data exfiltration

Phase 3: Real-Time Collaboration

This is where the magic happens. Red and blue work together:

  • Red explains what they did and why it worked
  • Blue identifies gaps in visibility
  • Together, they develop and test new detections

Phase 4: Remediation & Validation

  • Implement detection improvements
  • Re-test to validate effectiveness
  • Document lessons learned

Metrics That Matter

Metric Typical Baseline Target After Purple Team
Detection Coverage 30-40% ATT&CK 70-85%+ coverage
MTTD (Time to Detect) 24 hours < 30 minutes
MTTR (Time to Respond) 8 hours < 15 minutes
False Positive Ratio 50%+ of alerts < 10% actionable

Getting Started

You don’t need a mature red team to start purple teaming. Our managed Purple Team service brings the offensive expertise while upskilling your defenders.

Ready to bridge the gap? Let’s talk.

Kevin Sutton
Kevin Suttonhttps://hiredhackers.com/
Principal Security Consultant over 30 years of IT and cybersecurity expertise spanning Fortune 100 companies and global enterprises. CISSP since 2003 and CISA since 2005, with deep experience securing critical infrastructure across Energy, Aviation, Healthcare, Finance, and Retail industries.

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