Most Common Red Team Entry Vectors

In an increasingly digitized and exposed business environment, Red Team exercises allow organizations to evaluate their resilience against real attacks, testing technology, processes, and people. Identifying and understanding the most commonly used entry vectors is fundamental to strengthening any organization's defensive posture. At Secra Solutions S.L., offensive cybersecurity specialists, we share the most recurring vectors we use in our exercises to compromise business environments.

1. Identity as the New Perimeter

The rise of cloud environments has redefined security boundaries, positioning identity as a critical initial access vector. During Red Team exercises, it's common to find valid credentials previously leaked in public or private sources. The client's Threat Intelligence team's ability to detect these leaks and revoke compromised credentials is a clear indicator of cybersecurity maturity. Effective identity protection should include continuous monitoring of credential leaks, implementation of multi-factor authentication, and risk-based access policies.

2. Social Engineering: The Human Link

Despite technological advances, the human factor continues to be the most vulnerable link in the chain. Social engineering, particularly phishing, remains an effective technique for gaining access to organizations. In the current context, where digital identity holds such value, it's no longer necessary to induce users to execute malware. Capturing their credentials and authentication tokens is sufficient to compromise critical systems. Evaluating employee awareness and the effectiveness of anti-phishing controls is key to reducing this risk.

3. Perimeter Exposure

Although organizations are increasingly aware of the need to protect their exposure surface, in many cases it's still possible to find vulnerable services accessible from the internet. The lack of an updated asset inventory, combined with poor patch management, can open the door to external intrusions. Comprehensive control over which assets are exposed and their update status is essential to minimize these risks.

4. Physical Security: The Forgotten Vector

Physical security is often underestimated but represents a tangible and effective entry vector. Evaluating physical access controls, surveillance, and intrusion response is an integral part of a complete Red Team exercise. Physical access to facilities can facilitate direct connection to the internal network, access to unprotected devices, or even the installation of listening devices.

5. Supply Chain: The External Link

The supply chain represents a significant risk for large corporations. Access granted to authorized third parties, who sometimes don't maintain the same security standards, can become a weak point. A compromised supplier can act as a gateway to the main organization. It's essential that vendor review be a rigorous and continuous process, and that any assessment of their security be contractually agreed upon before being included in a Red Team exercise.

Conclusion

Understanding these entry vectors is the first step in developing an effective defense strategy. At Secra Solutions S.L., we help our clients identify and mitigate these risks through realistic exercises that emulate the techniques used by advanced attackers. Security is not a state, it's a continuous process of improvement.