The concept of a Purple Team in cybersecurity does not refer to a specific unit with fixed functions, but rather to a collaborative practice that aims to break down the traditional silos between Red and Blue teams. To fully understand it from a technical perspective, we must explore the origins of this dynamic, the limitations of traditional approaches, and how the Purple Team introduces an operational synergy that transforms defense-in-depth into a continuous, iterative learning process.
The Red Team represents the offensive side: it simulates real-world attacks, exploits vulnerabilities, deploys persistence techniques, lateral movement, and data exfiltration. Its goal is to think like an adversary, apply real-world TTPs based on frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, and validate the effectiveness of defensive controls.
The Blue Team, on the other hand, represents the defenders: monitoring systems, hardening assets, managing SIEM events, responding to incidents, and improving the overall security posture. However, in many environments, these two teams operate as separate entities, where the lessons learned by one are not always translated into concrete improvements for the other.
This is where the Purple Team comes in, not as a third, independent team, but as an integrative function that optimizes collaboration between offense and defense. The goal is not to compete, but to share. The Purple Team designs joint exercises where each attack is paired with its detection, analysis, response, and fine-tuning of controls. This process eliminates the “black box” effect often seen after Red Team exercises, where a final report is delivered with no real-time visibility for defenders.
From a technical perspective, the Purple Team leverages Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) platforms, controlled environments like PurpleLabs, or adversary emulation tools such as Caldera, Red Canary’s Atomic Red Team, or Infection Monkey. These tools allow precise execution of tactics (e.g., Credential Dumping via lsass access or Persistence via Scheduled Tasks) to assess not only whether they are detected, but how effectively. Every execution should be logged in the SIEM and evaluated in terms of coverage, fidelity, and alert correlation.
A major advantage of the Purple approach is its ability to map each offensive technique to its defensive visibility. If an attack like T1055.001 - Process Injection: DLL Injection generates no alerts or usable logs, it is documented as a detection gap. This forces the Blue Team to implement new rules in the EDR, SIEM, or behavior-based detection tools. Conversely, if a defensive control blocks the attack too early, it may be adjusted to allow observation of more stages and enhance learning.
The Purple approach is particularly effective in hybrid and multi-cloud environments, where attack surfaces have expanded and relevant data for defense is scattered across Azure logs, AWS CloudTrail, Microsoft 365, endpoints, networks, and SaaS applications. In such contexts, Purple exercises validate whether the same defensive rules that work on-prem are effective in the cloud, whether agents are properly deployed, and whether data flows are consistent.
From a more mature perspective, the Purple Team becomes a lever for Threat Informed Defense. This means aligning all exercises with prioritized real-world threats, e.g., adversary profiles like APT29, FIN7, or Wizard Spider, and using MITRE ATT&CK Navigator to map relevant techniques and evaluate coverage. The goal is not to simulate just any attack, but those aligned with the organization’s risk profile.
Another relevant dimension of the Purple Team is its ability to influence secure development. When successful attacks exploit poor practices in CI/CD pipelines, unprotected APIs, or misconfigured containers, the Purple Team can communicate those findings to DevSecOps teams, closing the loop between pentesting, detection, response, and prevention. In organizations aligned with frameworks like NIST 800-53 or ISO 27001, this function also supports continuous improvement within the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle of the ISMS.
Organizationally, some companies create Purple Teams as rotating roles or hybrid cells composed of both Red and Blue personnel. Others implement it as a transversal practice coordinated by the security office. The structure is less important than the communication flow, traceability of exercises, and ability to turn lessons into technical, verifiable actions.
In short, the Purple Team is neither a trend nor a label, it’s a deep shift in how defensive cybersecurity is operated. It goes beyond the occasional Red Team audit and the passive reaction of the Blue Team. It transforms exercises into live, directed, measurable simulations focused on outcomes. And in a context where threats evolve rapidly and environments grow more complex, this collaborative approach is one of the most effective strategies for achieving active, adaptive, intelligence-driven defense.