Adversary Emulation & Simulation — Prove You Can Withstand Real Attackers.

What is Adversary Emulatio

A controlled campaign where we adopt named adversary behaviors (techniques, tooling, tempo) and execute goal-oriented scenarios (data theft, domain takeover, business disruption). Each action is traceable, replayable, and mapped to ATT&CK for defense engineering.

Who this is for

A) Financial / FinTech & Critical Infrastructure (CISOs, Heads of Security)

• Validate resilience for DORA/TIBER-EU/NIS-2.

• Test SOC detection and response against sector-relevant TTPs.

• Produce board-ready evidence and regulator-grade heatmaps.

B) Tech / SaaS / Web3 & DeFi (COOs, Product Owners)

• Prove your platform withstands real threat actors before high-visibility launches.

• Test agents, APIs, cloud, and LLM/RAG integrations under adversarial conditions.

• Convert findings into sprint-ready fixes and PTaaS cadence.

Methodology (MITRE/TIBER + PIR→TAP→PTTP + goal-based + threat-informed)

1. PIR → TAP → PTTP: We translate your Priority Intelligence Requirements (business risk) into Threat Actor Priorities, then Priority TTPs to focus on what matters.

2. Threat-informed scoping: Select relevant actor sets (ransomware crews, APTs, insider/supply chain) and map TTPs to MITRE ATT&CK.

3. Goal-based design: Define explicit mission outcomes (e.g., exfiltrate client PII, compromise payment rail, disrupt Tier-1 service 48h).

4. Campaign execution: Senior red teamers + AI-assisted recon, custom tradecraft, controlled lateral movement, covert C2.

5. Measurement & evidence: ATT&CK heatmap, detection efficacy, dwell time, MTTD/MTTR, goal achieved vs. goal prevented.

6. TIBER-style reporting: Regulator-friendly summary + detailed technical trace.

Purple Team path: from tests to detection engineering

We convert every scenario into blue-teamable detections, playbooks, and tuning steps. Purple iterations validate: “Do we detect this TTP? Is the alert actionable? Is the control effective?” You leave with SOC content, not just a report.

Deliverables

• Executive Summary (board/regs).

• ATT&CK Heatmap + coverage deltas.

• Detection Gap Matrix (prio’d).

• Remediation Roadmap with ROI and owners.

• SOC Playbooks & Sigma/KQL seeds (where applicable).

• Retest certificate after fixes.

Pricing models (high-level)

• One-off Simulation: fixed scope, regulator-grade reporting.

• Adversary-Emulation Retainer: quarterly campaigns + purple iterations.

• PTaaS Option: continuous micro-assessments per sprint + on-demand retests.

Adversary Emulation & Simulation FAQ

How is the scope defined for Adversary Emulation & Simulation?

The scope is derived from your Priority Intelligence Requirements (PIRs) and critical business assets. Together, we translate business risk into measurable test goals—data exfiltration, domain compromise, or service disruption. Each engagement defines Rules of Engagement (ROE), in- and out-of-scope systems, and a control plan that maps to MITRE ATT&CK techniques and regulatory frameworks such as TIBER-EU or DORA.

What is the difference between Adversary Simulation and Adversary Emulation?

Adversary Simulation reproduces tactics and behaviors of generic threat categories—phishing, credential abuse, lateral movement—to assess readiness.
Adversary Emulation goes deeper: it mirrors a specific threat actor’s tools, infrastructure, and decision logic. The goal is to reproduce an APT-level campaign (for example, FIN7, APT29) end-to-end to validate detection, response, and resilience.
Exploit Labs combines both approaches: simulation for coverage, emulation for realism, giving you full visibility of your organization’s ability to resist real attacks.

How is production safety ensured during the tests?

All operations are executed under strict ROE with kill-switches and non-destructive proofs-of-concept. Tests are scheduled within approved maintenance windows, use cloned credentials where possible, and avoid payloads that could harm production. Every step is logged and communicated. Our methodology is compliant with TIBER-EU testing standards and corporate change-management policies.

Do we need to involve our Security Operations Center (SOC)?

Involving the SOC is highly recommended for Purple Team mode. Working collaboratively allows immediate validation of detections, tuning of SIEM rules, and improvement of Mean Time to Detect (MTTD).
However, Exploit Labs can also operate covertly, evaluating detection without alerting defenders, then debriefing afterward. Both modes produce measurable SOC-maturity insights.

What does “goal achieved” mean in Adversary Emulation?

Each engagement defines attack objectives aligned with business risk. “Goal achieved” means the red team demonstrated a viable path to that objective—such as data extraction, privilege escalation, or persistent C2 access—under agreed safety constraints.
Unlike ordinary pentests, goal achievement metrics translate directly to risk impact and regulatory readiness, proving resilience where it matters.

Will you help fix identified gaps?

Yes. We provide remediation workshops, follow-up retests, and detailed SOC content packages (Sigma/KQL queries, ATT&CK detections). Our goal is full closure—verified fixes, updated monitoring, and evidence for auditors.