Capability
Purple teaming
Your tooling is only as good as what it actually catches. Purple teaming works alongside your SOC to simulate real attacker behaviour. It measures exactly where your defences stop, and why.
CovertSwarm named in the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Security Operations, 2026
The threat
You can invest in every tool on the market and still miss the attack that matters.
Purple teaming is a collaborative security exercise in which the Swarm simulates real attacker behaviour alongside your security operations team. Unlike a red team engagement where the SOC is unaware, both sides work in the open. The goal is not to catch your defenders out. It is to find and fix exactly where detection fails.
Most organisations invest heavily in security tooling and assume that investment translates into visibility. It often does not. Gaps in configuration, coverage, and alert quality can allow real attacker behaviour to pass unnoticed or leave analysts without the clarity to respond.
Tooling is not the same as visibility.
Most detection gaps are not caused by missing technology. They are caused by technology that was never configured to detect the behaviour an attacker would actually use.
Every technique gets a verdict.
Every technique the Swarm executes is mapped to MITRE ATT&CK and assessed against a defined detection outcome. Progress is measurable, not assumed.
The gap closes during the engagement.
Purple teaming does not produce a report you action later. Detection rules are tuned and validated in real time, during the exercise itself.
Your detection capability is what we test.
Real attackers do not announce themselves. They operate quietly, map what they can reach, and move when they are confident nothing is watching. Purple teaming measures whether your SOC would know.
Atomic purple team
Individual attacker techniques executed in isolation to confirm what your tooling logs, what alerts fire, and where your detection fundamentals need work. The right starting point for any organisation building out SOC detection capability or validating coverage after changes to security controls.
APT scenario-based
Realistic multi-stage attack chains modelled on adversary behaviour relevant to your sector and risk profile. Tests whether your detection coverage holds up against a full sequence, not just individual techniques.
Objective-based
Defined attacker objectives are tested against critical systems under realistic conditions. This measures whether your SOC can detect, investigate, and disrupt a targeted attack as it progresses, rather than simply recognise the individual techniques involved.
Red team follow-up
Replay techniques from a previous red team engagement that were not detected or were only partially detected, using realistic red team timing and execution. The exercise validates whether remediation has improved detection coverage and identifies where further tuning or configuration changes are required, with findings reviewed collaboratively with your SOC at the end of the engagement.
Detection engineering support
Depending on the collaboration model chosen, the Swarm works directly with your SOC to review, refine, and validate detection rules during the engagement. The output is working detection logic, not just recommendations to action later.
Post-engagement tuning review
After every engagement, findings are mapped to specific MITRE ATT&CK techniques with tuning recommendations for your SIEM and EDR. Your SOC receives the context needed to action improvements and measure detection coverage over time.
We know that real attack surfaces don’t come in neat categories. If yours doesn’t fit above, tell us what you’re working with.
What a Purple Teaming Finding Looks Like
Example: Objective-based purple team exercise, financial services
Critical
Finding
The Swarm executed a credential access technique mapped to MITRE ATT&CK T1003 against an agreed endpoint. The technique completed without triggering an alert. Telemetry confirmed the event was logged by the EDR but the detection rule had never been tuned to recognise the specific behavioural pattern used.
Impact
A real attacker using the same technique would have obtained credential material without triggering an alert. The SOC had no visibility of the activity despite the telemetry being present. The detection gap had existed undetected across the full lifetime of the tooling deployment.
Remediation
Tune the EDR detection rule to recognise the specific behavioural pattern observed during the engagement. Validate the updated rule by replaying the technique post-remediation. Conduct a full audit of detection rules against the MITRE ATT&CK techniques most relevant to your sector and threat profile.
Board impact
The tooling was there. The detection was not. A real attacker using the same technique would not have been seen.
Technical impact
MITRE ATT&CK T1003 credential access. EDR telemetry present. Detection rule untriggered due to behavioural pattern gap. Eighteen months undetected.
Want the full picture?
The full range of offensive security the Swarm runs: every discipline, how they connect, and what each one tests.
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HOW WE ENGAGE SAFELY.
Your subscription starts with your Attack Strategy. What matters most, and what adversaries would target first.
Purple teaming only works when expectations are aligned in advance. Every engagement is scoped carefully before anything starts. The engagement type, the techniques in scope, and how detection outcomes will be measured are agreed and documented before any technique is executed.
1
Scoping and alignment
The engagement driver, type, techniques in scope, and how detection outcomes will be measured are defined and agreed before anything begins. Nothing starts without a documented plan both sides have signed off.
2
Technique execution
Attacker behaviour is simulated in a controlled manner, mapped to MITRE ATT&CK, and executed only against agreed platforms and systems. Techniques outside the agreed scope are not executed regardless of opportunity.
3
Real-time detection
Every technique is assessed against the defined classification model as it is executed. Telemetry is observed, alert behaviour is recorded, and gaps are identified with the evidence to support them before moving to the next technique.
4
Prove
All findings and detection outcome assessments are delivered through the CovertSwarm Portal. Where real-time collaboration and tuning are part of the engagement model, the Swarm team is available throughout to validate improvements and retest.
Constant Cyber Attack™
We become the threat. You get the proof.
You don’t outpace attackers by waiting for your next test. You do it by facing an adversary that thinks, acts and strikes like they do.
CovertSwarm attacks your organisation the way the best attackers do: continuously, and using every tool available to reach their objective.
Digital. Social. Physical.
Your Swarm attacks across digital, physical and social vectors, chaining weaknesses to prove what a real attacker could achieve.
Constant pressure.
Your Swarm keeps attacking as your business evolves, adapting to changing systems, people and risks. Constant pressure, not a one-off test.
One simple subscription.
One subscription is all you need. Combine continuous offensive security, penetration testing, red teaming, bug bounty and more in one simple subscription.
Sharper, battle-tested SOC
Improve detection times
Fewer false positives
Prove ROI of security tooling
Stories from the Swarm
These stories are real, but the names are deeply redacted. We’ll tell you how we uncovered the threats no one else could see, and why constant cyber attack is the best way to outpace cyber threats.
Become a story well told. Contact us to discuss how Constant Cyber Attack will help you outpace cyber threats.
Frequently asked questions
Purple teaming is a collaborative security exercise in which the Swarm simulates real attacker behaviour while working openly alongside your security operations team. Unlike a red team engagement where the SOC is unaware, both sides work together. The goal is not to catch your defenders out but to find and fix exactly where detection fails.
In a red team engagement the SOC and incident response team are not aware of the activity. The red team attempts to achieve objectives without being detected, simulating a real adversary. Purple teaming is the opposite. Both teams work openly and collaboratively. The goal is not to test whether the SOC can catch an attack in progress but to identify exactly where detection gaps exist and fix them during the exercise.
BAS tools automate technique execution and score detection results. They are fast, repeatable, and useful for validating known detection rules at volume. Purple teaming with CovertSwarm is different. A specialist team executes techniques with the judgement, creativity, and adversarial thinking that automated tools cannot replicate. The output is not a score. It is specific, actionable detection engineering guidance validated by human operators who can adapt to what they find in your environment.
We offer four confirmed engagement types. Atomic exercises test individual techniques in isolation and are the right starting point for organisations building out SOC detection. APT scenario-based exercises test realistic multi-stage attack chains. Objective-based exercises measure whether your SOC can identify and disrupt an attack in progress. Red team follow-up exercises replay techniques from a previous red team engagement to validate whether remediation worked.
Every technique executed is assessed against a defined detection outcome. You receive a technique-by-technique findings report mapping detection gaps to specific MITRE ATT&CK techniques, SIEM and EDR tuning recommendations with the rule logic to implement them, and SOC process improvement guidance prioritised by impact. Findings are delivered in real time through the CovertSwarm Portal throughout the engagement.
The right cadence depends on your threat exposure, SOC maturity, and how frequently your environment changes. After a major tooling change, a cloud migration, or a red team engagement, a targeted exercise produces the most immediate value. Organisations with mature SOC programmes benefit from running exercises on a quarterly basis to measure improvement over time.
Yes. Purple teaming is designed to work with your existing environment, not replace it. We work directly with your SOC analysts using your SIEM, EDR, and detection tooling. The outcome is detection rules and process improvements that work in your specific environment, not generic guidance based on a standard configuration.
Looking for something specific?
Talk to us. We’d love to hear from you.
Stop testing.
Start knowing.
You’ll know exactly where you stand, and you’ll be able to prove it. To your board, your regulator, and yourself.
Transform to a proactive, continuous offensive security programme
Your budget is aimed at the risk that matters, not the one you were handed
You show the board what security prevented, not a request for more
Security clears the way for the business to move faster
You enter the boardroom in command
It starts with a 30-minute Attack Discovery call.
No access to your systems required.