Red teaming and adversary simulation.
F Creative Studio 360 runs objective-driven exercises that show whether your organisation can prevent, detect and respond to a realistic intrusion across technology, people and process.
A penetration test checks the doors. This checks the response.
Red teaming and adversary simulation copy the approach of a real intrusion: a goal, patience, and movement across whatever is in scope. The point is not a longer list of findings. It is whether the organisation would notice, and what it would do.
F Creative Studio 360 plans each exercise with organisations in any country. Scenarios are shaped by how intrusions in your sector actually proceed, including behaviours catalogued in MITRE ATT&CK. A penetration test remains the right starting point when the question is whether a specific system can be exploited.
- A picture of real exposure
- The exercise follows an objective a real intrusion would chase, rather than a checklist of individual findings.
- People and process, not only tools
- It shows where awareness, approvals and response habits hold, and where they do not.
- Paths that separate tests miss
- Weaknesses are examined as a chain across systems, so a low finding is judged by what it unlocks next.
- A test of detection and response
- Your monitoring and incident team are part of the outcome: what they saw, how fast, and what they did.
How an exercise runs
Nothing starts until the objective, the boundaries and the emergency contacts are written down. Client environments are included only when that organisation has authorised the work.
- 1
Planning and scope
Agree the objective, the systems and sites in play, the rules, and who inside your organisation may know the exercise is running.
- 2
Intelligence and reconnaissance
Build a picture of the in-scope attack surface from information that is legitimately available, and only the access the scope allows.
- 3
Simulation
Pursue the agreed objective in a way that reflects how a real intrusion proceeds, and stop at the point needed to show impact.
- 4
What the controls did
Record what prevented progress, what detected it, and what was missed, including the path toward the systems that matter.
- 5
Report and debrief
A narrative of the exercise, the findings, the business impact, and the changes that would have stopped it.
What can be in scope
Most exercises are technical. Physical checks and AI assessments are added only when you want them. AI work follows issues described in the OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications.
- Objective-driven campaigns
- A defined goal, such as reaching a critical system or data set, pursued in the manner of a patient intrusion rather than a list of isolated tests.
- Detection and response
- The exercise is scored on what your team could see and how they responded, not only on whether a technical control failed.
- Physical controls, when in scope
- An authorised check of perimeter, entry and access to sensitive areas. It is included only when it is written into the rules of the engagement.
- Purple teaming
- A collaborative form of the same work. The attacking side and your defending team compare notes as the exercise runs, so tools and playbooks can be tuned with evidence.
- AI systems
- Assessments of models and assistants you operate, including prompt injection, data poisoning and evasion, scoped to the system you put forward.
What you receive
- An agreed objective and written rules before any work starts.
- A narrative of what was attempted and how far it went.
- Findings rated by business impact, with evidence.
- What detection and response did, and did not, see.
- Recommendations your technical and leadership teams can act on.
- A debrief with the people who own the controls.
Why organisations commission it
Separate tests of an application, a network and a phishing drill each answer a narrow question. An exercise that is allowed to move between them shows the path a patient intrusion would actually take, and whether anyone would notice in time.
F Creative Studio 360 uses that result to point at the controls, the process and the habits that would have stopped the objective. The debrief is for the people who run security and for the people who own the business system that was the target.
Common questions
How is this different from a penetration test?+
A penetration test examines agreed systems for weaknesses that can be exploited, usually within a defined technical scope. A red team exercise starts from an objective, such as reaching a particular system or data set, and looks at technology, process and people together. Many organisations do both. F Creative Studio 360 can help you decide which one fits the question you are trying to answer.
Who needs to know an exercise is happening?+
A small group on your side always knows: the people who can authorise it and stop it. How widely that knowledge is shared is part of the scope. Telling everyone in advance changes what the exercise can show about detection.
Will this disrupt the business?+
The rules of engagement are written to avoid that. Availability testing, such as denial of service, is not part of a standard exercise. Anything that could affect operations is called out and agreed before it is attempted, or left out.
Do you test physical security?+
Only when you ask for it and it is in the written scope. That work looks at whether existing physical controls would stop unauthorised access to the places you name. It is not a surprise visit.
What is purple teaming?+
Purple teaming is the same class of exercise run with your defending team in the room. Findings are shared as they appear, so detection rules and response steps can be adjusted against something you have just watched, rather than only in a report weeks later.
Can you test an AI system we operate?+
Yes, when that system is in scope. The assessment looks at how the model or assistant can be misled or misused, including issues described in the OWASP Top 10 for Large Language Model Applications. It does not cover models you do not operate.
Tell us the objective you want tested.
F Creative Studio 360 will say whether a red team exercise, a purple team exercise, or a penetration test is the right next step, and what would need to be in scope.