Maximizing Cybersecurity with a Unified Provider: The Red Team Blue Team Advantage Explained

Many financial services firms today are still adopting a multi-provider approach to IT and cybersecurity in the legacy belief that these two functions must remain separate to avoid conflicts of interest. As explained in our previous blog, it is a belief that does not stand up to serious scrutiny.  

The reality is that a unified provider model, bringing MSP and MSSP services together under the management of a single expert partner, enables firms to benefit from greater visibility and control over their IT infrastructure, with faster, coordinated incident response, reduced cyber risk and enhanced compliance and data governance. 

The approach becomes especially powerful in cybersecurity testing exercises such as penetration testing and risk assessments, which rely on comprehensive access to a firm’s network, collaboration and communication – all elements that a single IT and cybersecurity provider is uniquely positioned to deliver.  

The Disconnect Between Multiple Providers

In cybersecurity testing, red teams act as the hackers-simulating real-world cyber threats to test an organization’s defenses. They emulate the same tactics and techniques as malicious actors to identify vulnerabilities. Blue teams, on the other hand, play defense. They monitor systems, detect suspicious activity and respond to incidents in real time. Together, they measure and strengthen a company’s security posture. 

When a firm is operating multiple IT and cybersecurity providers, the red team’s attack simulations are likely to be restricted by incomplete access to the full network environment. Equally, the blue team may lack real-time visibility into changes made by the IT provider, making it more difficult to pinpoint and address abnormal behavior.   

Beyond testing quality, when incidents do occur, responsibility can become blurred in a multi-provider model. Confusion can start to build around who is responsible for response and who for remediation. Taken together, these issues slow down detection, reduce the realism of testing and limit the value of both red and blue team exercises.  

Red and Blue Teaming at its Best 

Conversely, red and blue team testing demonstrates the real effectiveness of the unified provider model. With both teams benefiting from access to the entire IT environment, collaboration and visibility are significantly enhanced.  

Red teams can plan more realistic simulations when they understand how systems are configured and ‘what normal looks like.’ At the same time, blue teams can monitor threats in context, rather than relying on partial logs or abstract alerts. 

In practical terms, as a cybersecurity testing exercise plays out, the red team's near real-time identification of new risks allows the blue team to respond to emerging threats quickly. Firms can see their entire risk management lifecycle in action, from detecting new vulnerabilities to risk remediation. 

Penetration testing is an important example of this. When delivered by a unified provider, regular pen tests can be contextualized against the organization’s broader IT environment.  The red team provides the service, but the blue team can then complement it by helping them respond to identified threats.   

This close collaboration between Red and Blue teams to understand the holistic picture of the environment and enhance defensive measures in real time is often referred to as Purple Teaming, which provides tremendous insight but is often a prohibitively expensive service for most small and medium-sized businesses due to the wide array of senior professionals needed to execute the testing. This “Purple Team” benefit, however, is fundamentally what is provided with a single provider model; an enhanced efficacy to the testing but with a reduced associated cost.

Speed and Visibility Through Enhanced Coordination  

In more general terms, the unified provider model supports faster time to action on security threats. When a single provider handles both IT operations and threat defense, typical response times shorten dramatically. There is no need to raise tickets between teams or negotiate access. All this is already built into the workflow. 

It is also easier for lessons to be learned and then applied when operating under a unified approach.  Red team findings can be immediately actioned by the blue team across the IT environment without the need to wait for multiple provider handoffs.  

That benefit is supported by more consistent reporting, offering a consolidated view of status and progress against targets. With a unified provider model, firms can more readily demonstrate successes and provide updates to keep stakeholders and regulators fully informed and satisfied.   

Optimizing Impact 

Red and blue team services play a key role in ensuring a firm’s systems and services remain safe and secure in the face of evolving threats, but the effectiveness of the approach largely depends on the overarching IT and cybersecurity model in place within the business. 

With a multiple provider model, red and blue teaming is hampered by poor overall visibility over the environment and a lack of coordination between the parties involved. With a unified provider approach, the benefits are enhanced by greater collaboration across the IT and cybersecurity landscape and clearer oversight across the complete network environment. 

To learn how Abacus can help your firm achieve this level of resilience, contact us today or download our ebook for deeper insights.