CREST-Certified Purple Team Exercises and Detection Engineering for UK Businesses
Purple teaming is collaborative — red team operators work alongside your blue team to test detection coverage technique-by-technique against MITRE ATT&CK. Each tactic is executed, the SOC checks for detection, gaps are remediated live, then re-tested. The output is a quantified detection-coverage heatmap and a backlog of tested SIEM rules.
Red team finds gaps. Blue team builds defences. Purple team closes the loop.
A red team engagement might find that your SOC missed a Kerberoasting attack. The findings go in a report. Six months later, you don’t know if that detection was actually built — or if it was built but never validated. Most “remediated” red-team findings have no SIEM rule, no test case, and no automated regression.
Purple teaming closes the loop. Red operators execute MITRE ATT&CK techniques live. Your blue team checks detection (or absence of detection). Detection engineering builds new SIEM rules in real time. Red operators re-execute to validate. The output is a quantified MITRE ATT&CK coverage heatmap, a backlog of tested SIEM rules, and a documented detection engineering process. Reports satisfy ISO 27001 A.16 incident management, SOC 2 CC7.4 detection criteria, and FCA Operational Resilience evidence.
PURPLE TEAM COVERAGE
What Purple Teaming Covers
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise tactics tested technique-by-technique. Detection-engineering output baked into your SIEM.
MITRE ATT&CK Coverage
Technique-by-technique testing across all 14 Enterprise tactics. Each technique: red executes, blue detects (or not), engineer remediates, red re-validates.
SIEM Rule Validation
Existing SIEM rule efficacy testing. False-positive rate measurement. Detection latency benchmark. Coverage gap identification.
SIEM Rule Engineering
New SIEM rule creation for uncovered techniques. Sigma rule, Splunk SPL, KQL (Sentinel), Elastic ES|QL. Each rule pre-tested against red-team execution.
SOC Playbook Validation
Existing SOC runbooks tested against live red-team activity. Triage process, escalation cascade, communication quality measured.
EDR Detection Tuning
EDR product tuning (CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Defender for Endpoint, Carbon Black). Detection rule coverage validation.
Threat Hunting Hypotheses
Hypothesis-driven threat hunting practice. Hypotheses derived from sector-specific threat actor TTPs. Hunt queries built and validated.
SOAR Automation
SOAR playbook validation, automated response action testing, false-positive rate measurement under live red-team execution.
Atomic Red Team Integration
Atomic Red Team framework integrated. Reusable tests for ongoing detection regression.
Initial Access Coverage
Detection coverage for phishing, exposed-service exploitation, valid-account abuse, supply-chain compromise.
Lateral Movement
AD attack detection (Kerberoasting, AS-REP, BloodHound, Pass-the-Hash). PsExec, WMI, WinRM detection coverage.
Exfiltration Detection
DLP rule validation, egress-traffic anomaly detection, cloud-API exfiltration coverage, alternative-protocol abuse.
Detection Coverage Heatmap
Quantified MITRE ATT&CK Navigator heatmap output. Coverage % per tactic. Gap-prioritised backlog for ongoing engineering.
FOUR-PHASE METHODOLOGY
Purple Team — From Coverage Gap to Validated SIEM Rule
Live red+blue collaboration. Each technique tested, gap identified, rule built, rule validated. Repeatable process you can re-run quarterly.
Coverage Baseline
Live Testing
Detection Engineering
Re-validation & Heatmap
Verified Accreditations Auditors Accept
Every accreditation independently issued by a recognised UK certification body. Click CREST to verify our membership.
COMPLIANCE READY
Purple Team Reports Mapped to Every Framework
Detection-engineering evidence accepted across compliance frameworks where SOC capability is a control requirement.
ISO 27001 A.16
Information security incident management evidence — purple-team validates detection capability against documented attack patterns.
SOC 2 Type II
CC7.4 detection criteria evidence. CC7.5 response activities evidence. Trust Services Criteria coverage measured against MITRE ATT&CK.
FCA / PRA Operational Resilience
Severe-but-plausible scenario evidence for SOC detection capability. Particularly important for Important Business Service threat awareness.
NIS2 + DORA
Essential services and financial entities — SOC capability evidence is part of operational resilience. DORA requires regular detection testing.
NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework
CAF capability evidence for B4 (security monitoring) and B5 (proactive security event discovery).
MITRE ATT&CK Navigator
Direct heatmap output ready for ongoing detection-engineering programmes and MITRE ATT&CK coverage reporting.
TRANSPARENT PRICING
Transparent Purple Team Pricing
All tiers include MITRE ATT&CK-mapped testing and detection-engineering output. Price varies by scope and SOC integration depth.
Depends on scope
Single-tactic focus (e.g., lateral movement detection), 1-2 week exercise, ≤20 techniques tested, basic detection engineering output.
- ✓Free retests included
- ✓Free rescheduling
- ✓No cancellation fees
- ✓24-hour scope to active testing
- ✓Live findings to client portal
- ✓Executive + technical report
- ✓60-min walkthrough call
- ✓Letter of attestation
Depends on scope
All 14 MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise tactics, 3-4 week exercise, 50+ techniques tested, full detection engineering output, atomic red team integration.
- ✓Free retests included
- ✓Free rescheduling
- ✓No cancellation fees
- ✓24-hour scope to active testing
- ✓Live findings to client portal
- ✓Executive + technical report
- ✓60-min walkthrough call
- ✓Letter of attestation
Depends on scope
Quarterly purple-team cycles, integrated with red-team programme, full detection-engineering pipeline, ongoing SOC capability uplift.
- ✓Free retests included
- ✓Free rescheduling
- ✓No cancellation fees
- ✓24-hour scope to active testing
- ✓Live findings to client portal
- ✓Executive + technical report
- ✓60-min walkthrough call
- ✓Letter of attestation
Purple Teaming for Your Sector
Detection priorities vary by sector — different threat actors mean different MITRE ATT&CK techniques to prioritise.
Fintech
FCA-regulated firms, Open Banking, payment APIs, PCI scoping.
SaaS
Multi-tenant isolation, SSO/SAML/OIDC, customer-data perimeter, SOC 2 evidence.
Healthcare
NHS DSPT, NHS DTAC, EHR integration, telehealth, patient-data PII.
Insurance
FCA / PRA Operational Resilience, claims data, broker integrations, cyber underwriting evidence.
Law
Privileged-data confidentiality, partner-tier scrutiny, SRA Cyber Standard alignment.
Public Sector
CCS / G-Cloud framework, NCSC-aligned, SC-cleared testers available.
What You Actually Get
Five things that distinguish our service from automated scans and box-tick competitors.
What You Get From Purple Teaming
Live Red+Blue Collaboration
MITRE ATT&CK Heatmap Output
Reusable Detection Engineering
UK CREST + IASME + ISO 27001 + ISO 9001
Frequently Asked
What is purple teaming?
Purple teaming is a collaborative red-team / blue-team exercise. Red operators execute MITRE ATT&CK techniques live; the blue team checks detection; detection engineering builds new SIEM rules in real time; red operators re-execute to validate. The output is a quantified MITRE ATT&CK coverage heatmap and a backlog of tested SIEM rules.
How is purple teaming different from red teaming?
Red teaming is adversarial — operators try to achieve a goal undetected. Purple teaming is collaborative — operators announce each technique, blue team measures detection, detection engineers fix gaps live. Purple uplifts SOC capability systematically; red validates the resulting capability.
How long does a purple-team exercise take?
Focused exercise (single tactic): 1-2 weeks. Full MITRE ATT&CK coverage: 3-4 weeks. Continuous quarterly programme: ongoing with 1-week sprints per quarter. Test duration is determined during scoping based on coverage breadth.
How much does purple teaming cost in the UK?
Focused exercise £10,000-£20,000. Full coverage (most commonly commissioned) £20,000-£40,000. Continuous programme £40,000+. UK day rates for CREST + detection-engineering specialists are £1,500-£2,500 per day.
What output do you produce?
MITRE ATT&CK coverage heatmap (Navigator JSON), validated SIEM rule pack (Sigma + SPL/KQL), Atomic Red Team test backlog, SOC playbook gap analysis, quantified detection-coverage report, executive briefing.
Do you test against our SIEM?
Yes. Major SIEMs supported: Splunk Enterprise / ES, Microsoft Sentinel, Elastic Security, IBM QRadar, ArcSight, Sumo Logic, Chronicle, Devo. Custom rule formats produced for your platform. Existing rule efficacy validated.
Do you test against our EDR?
Yes. EDR products supported: CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Carbon Black, Cybereason, Trellix, ESET PROTECT. Detection-rule coverage validated against live red-team execution.
Can purple teaming integrate with our existing SOC playbooks?
Yes. We test existing playbooks against live red-team activity — measuring triage process, escalation cascade, communication quality, and detection latency. Output identifies playbook gaps and enables documented improvements.
Is the output reusable for ongoing detection engineering?
Yes. All output (Sigma rules, SPL/KQL queries, Atomic Red Team tests) is reusable for quarterly regression. Many clients build a continuous purple-team programme that re-tests the heatmap every quarter — measurable SOC capability uplift over time.
Is purple teaming acceptable for ISO 27001 A.16 audit?
Yes. ISO 27001 A.16 (Information security incident management) requires demonstrable detection capability. Purple-team output — coverage heatmap, validated SIEM rules, runbook gaps — provides direct evidence ISO auditors accept.
Are your operators UK-based?
Yes. UK-based red operators and detection engineers. SC-cleared operators available for public-sector engagements. Where on-site SOC integration is required, M25 next-business-day on-site available.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes. Standard NDA before any SIEM rule or detection capability discussion. We operate under a project-specific master agreement that includes detection-rule IP protection and post-engagement data destruction.
Book a Purple Team Scoping Call
30 minutes with a CREST + detection-engineering specialist. Fixed-price quote within 24 hours. No sales pipeline.
