As cybersecurity spending grows, so has cybercrime. According to the latest data from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), in 2023, a record-breaking 880,418 complaints were filed by the American public, highlighting a significant rise in cybercrime reports compared to previous years.Cyber criminals are refining and scaling their attack methods using artificial intelligence and other tools, so companies must incorporate proactive methods powered by AI, in addition to defensive methods that minimize risks and maximize security.Red teams are an integral part of a proactive security approach that companies can leverage to enhance defenses against adversaries. They play a critical role in determining a companys readiness to prevent cyberattacks by measuring the current security of the target from the threat actors perspective and then recommending improvements designed to prevent harm.While blue teams tend to focus on strengthening defense strategies and responding to incidents, red teams look to identify weaknesses and act in the same manner as an adversary would. By studying the tactics of real-world threat actors and implementing exercises that mimic their attacks, red teams can offer recommendations to help prepare for and disrupt potential threats.Related:Since its inception, the Adobe security red teams value has been felt across the company. By performing active testing using customized toolkits, they can effectively evaluate our preparedness to defend against real-world adversaries and scenarios.Here are the top five strategies I recommend to others looking to implement an effective red team:1. Imitate real-world adversaries: Red teams should be familiar with adversaries and their actions to better understand motivations and possible future scenarios. A global knowledge base like MITRE ATT&CK tracks tactics and techniques based on real-world occurrences and allows companies to gather cataloged and recorded threat intelligence. Reviewing reports from the Cyber Security Review Board can yield ideas on security approaches that are known to be ineffective.2. Replicate hypothetical attack scenarios: Another important capability of red teaming is anticipating and getting ahead of malicious attempts. Simulating techniques by cyber criminals enables red teams to explore theoretical paths that could lead to services or data being compromised.During a simulation, the red team explores hypothetical attacks, such as escalating privileges and moving laterally between systems, which could ultimately cause harm to an organization if the right defenses arent in place. These simulations provide an in-depth understanding while analyzing a myriad of possible attack vectors. After the exercise, the red team should share findings with key stakeholders to enhance controls based on their expertise.Related:3. Develop a customized toolkit: A customized toolkit can help red teams more efficiently perform exercises similar to advanced attackers. These tools may include:Custom exploits that allow the red team to manipulate systems and gain initial access for further attacks. This doesnt necessarily mean identifying completely new vulnerabilities, you can leverage code that an adversary would write to tailor an exploit attempt to be most effective in your environment.Software to effectively communicate with compromised machines (often referred to as Command and Control or C2 for short).Post-exploitation modules that target a companys services and execute them after a system is compromised.Developing these capabilities over time allows teams to stay up to date with the rapidly growing complexity of cyber-attack methods. However, the cost of developing a custom toolkit can be high, so dont let it stop you from using whatever is available from the wider security community for your team to be effective.Related:4. Enhance operations with the help of AI: Because bad actors are using AI, companies benefit from using AI in their own efforts to stay ahead of threats. Red teams can leverage AI tools to better understand the actions of real-world threats. For example, AI can be used to scale the effort of testing defenses, helping red teams get better at discovering and subsequently defending against potential threats. It can save the team time on learning new coding languages and developing tools, since it can help a red teamer to better understand a piece of code more quickly.5. Collaborate with blue teams: Probably the most crucial piece of effective red teaming is the collaboration with blue teams to enhance detection and response capabilities. This allows blue teams to test whether their assumptions of the environment theyre trying to protect hold true. Purple team exercises are joint engagements between red and blue teams. The red team simulates attack actions for the blue team, which then verifies that it detected the attempt, and if not, would have had sufficient logs to detect the actions. The collaboration helps both teams develop more effective threat detection methods.When a company uses red teams to better understand and anticipate adversarial scenarios, they can be more focused and make security investments where they make the most impact. Red teaming is a helpful element of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. It should always be integrated with robust technical controls, and a culture that prioritizes security and threat awareness to defend against cyber threats effectively.