The information age has brought us the most influential technological inventions that contribute to the exponential growth of efficient, digitized information systems. The influx of incredible software and hardware, combined with the brightest minds of the 20th century, has resulted in the creation of arguably the most influential invention since the steam engine — the internet.
The technological marvel of telecommunications and digitalized transition of information blows every other traditional form of communication out of the park. With rapid advancements, the connection of computers to networks has digitized our workplaces, sources of entertainment, and social interaction.
There are simply too many benefits from information technologies to miss out on. To avoid digitalization means to live under a rock. While some people consciously choose to stay “off-grid” and live a life void of information technologies, for ordinary citizens and businesses that want to make it in a modern market, modernization is inevitable.
However, there is a unique problem we have to address to maintain a stable and secure existence in the digital world. Management and interactions with such advanced technology that we experience today can be overwhelming even for technically literate users. Still, while modern tech companies try to simplify the experience and make it as secure as possible, cybersecurity threats are a unique problem for an information age that maintains a parallel evolution with technology.
In this article, we aim to instill into our readers a basic understanding of cybersecurity and the differences between two main schools of thought and strategy — “Red team”, which specializes in testing by penetration of computer systems to discover vulnerabilities, and “Blue Team” that emphasizes on security reinforcement and weakness detection from a defensive standpoint.
Understanding these approaches will help you see their implication on a larger scale and even apply some of the knowledge to protect your local network. Once you are familiar with effective tactics, you can start implementing internet privacy tools into your browsing experience. Having a rotating proxy will help you constantly change between fake network identities to access blocked websites and ensure your privacy and anonymity online. Also, with a rotating IP, you can protect your web scraping projects, where a bombardment of data requests to the recipient server may be alarming to owners, resulting in a potential IP ban. We will talk about the usage of intermediary servers, and how having a rotating proxy is beneficial for cybersecurity further in the article. For now, let’s go over different teams and their approach to handling digital attacks.
You may also like Essential IT Security Tech for Businesses
Red team — through the eyes of an offender
The red team follows a philosophy that the best way to discover threats and vulnerabilities in your system is approaching it as if you were a persistent cybercriminal yourself. Of course, to provide assistance and valuable insight into the matter, computer scientists that possess such a skillset often come from a hacker background but decided to steer clear of cybercrime.
Through the eyes of an offender, we look for backdoors and clear vulnerabilities that may provide criminals easy access to your network or an important database of a company. Smaller businesses rarely utilize the sort of testing provided by red teams, often because they do not see their data as significant to hackers, or dedicate their resources elsewhere. Unfortunately, they are often the main targets of these attacks for these exact reasons, and malicious third parties with basic IT knowledge can exploit vulnerabilities.
To make the work of the red team effective, the experience has to be authentic — authorized employees have full consent to attack the system, but they must be unaware of its defenses. The approaches may range from classic DDoS attacks to precise targeting of employees and searching for threats through their affiliation with the company. Red teams also use proxy servers to change their IP address and avoid blacklisting while attempting to infiltrate the network.
You may also like Password Security And Network Access Management
Blue team — defending from the inside
While the blue team may share a lot of similarities with the red team in its approach to testing, the main difference is the oversight of the entire security system. Blue teams have the full picture and know every nook and cranny of the environment they aim to examine and reinforce. While the blue team still performs the simulation of attacks, its strategy revolves around the strengthening of infrastructure with privacy tools and break-in detection software.
Combine forces for the best result
While it may seem like the blue team does everything and more, combining both philosophies is the best way to resolve cybersecurity threats. An attack performed by the red team provides authentic and dependable information on just how much data can be extracted and how many vulnerabilities are visible to an outside observer. Such analysis helps the blue team eliminate weaknesses in order of descending priority, instead of overthinking and overanalyzing insignificant vulnerabilities.
You may also like New Ransomware Targeting Unpatched Microsoft Exchange Servers
Test your system
While it is not entirely possible to simulate the actions of a red team, you can use the basic understanding of both teams to test the security of your local network. Practicing infiltration will help you avoid obvious vulnerabilities and bad habits. Using complementary tools like proxy servers for browsing is also a great prevention strategy that ensures that your IP address never reaches potential cybercriminals in the first place. That, of course, is only possible if you use proxy servers from legitimate providers. Choosing a public proxy for internet connections will only bring more trouble and expose your sensitive data to unknown parties that run the server.
Would you like to read more about Blue and Red Teams in Cybersecurity-related articles? If so, we invite you to take a look at our other tech topics before you leave!
