Red teaming & adversary simulation in India — real attackers don't follow penetration testing rules. Our red team doesn't either.
The only way to know if your defences work is to have the best attackers test them. SIRI Security's red team conducts full-scope adversary simulations — multi-stage attacks replicating sophisticated threat actor TTPs, physical security bypass, assumed breach scenarios, and purple team operations — with all findings documented under attorney-client privilege.
Getting the methodology claim right
There's no official "TIBER-IN." What Indian red teams actually use is TIBER-EU, adapted.
Threat-intelligence-led red teaming has a real, well-established European standard: TIBER-EU, developed by the European Central Bank in 2018 as a framework for testing the cyber resilience of financial entities, since adopted with local variations by individual EU member states as TIBER-NL, TIBER-DE, and others. Some Indian red team marketing content references a "TIBER-IN" framework as if RBI had formally notified an equivalent scheme. It hasn't — at least not under that name, as a distinct, officially published Indian standard.
What actually happens in practice, and what SIRI's engagements do, is more honest and just as rigorous: Indian red team providers adapt TIBER-EU's methodology and structure — threat intelligence gathering, scenario-based attack planning, execution, and closure with purple teaming — to the specific regulatory expectations that already exist in India, principally RBI's Cyber Security Framework and its Master Direction on IT Governance. The scenarios get built around threat actors and attack patterns relevant to Indian financial entities specifically, and the reporting gets mapped to what an RBI examiner will actually ask about, rather than to a formal certification that doesn't exist to claim.
The broader point holds regardless of which framework name is on the cover page: a red team engagement is only as valuable as the realism of its threat model and the rigour of its execution. Whether it's labelled TIBER-EU-derived, MITRE ATT&CK-aligned, or bespoke, what actually matters is whether the attack path demonstrated is one a real adversary targeting your sector would plausibly take — and whether your detection and response held up against it.
Where standard testing stops short
Standard penetration tests find known vulnerabilities in isolated systems. Red teams find the paths that real attackers use to reach your crown jewels.
These are the recurring gaps that separate a compliance-driven vulnerability scan from a genuine assessment of whether a motivated adversary can reach what matters.
Point-in-time vulnerability scans miss chained attack paths
A vulnerability scanner identifies individual weaknesses. A red team chains misconfigurations, credential reuse, lateral movement techniques, and trust relationships to build the complete attack path from initial access to domain domination.
Blue teams need to be tested under realistic attack conditions
Defensive capabilities never tested against realistic adversary behaviour are theoretical. Red team exercises stress-test detection and response capabilities under conditions that reveal how your SOC actually performs.
Physical security is frequently the weakest link
Network security that cannot be breached digitally is often accessible through physical means — tailgating, lock bypass, badge cloning, and workstation access. Full-scope red teams include the physical vector most assessments entirely ignore.
Assumed breach scenarios expose post-compromise controls
How far can an attacker progress once they have initial access? Assumed breach exercises start from inside your perimeter, revealing whether your segmentation, detection, and response controls actually stop lateral movement.
What we conduct
Red team and adversary simulation services across the full attack spectrum
From full-scope adversary simulations through assumed breach exercises, purple team operations, and physical security assessment.
Full-Scope Adversary Simulation
Multi-stage red team engagement simulating a sophisticated threat actor — initial access, persistence, lateral movement, privilege escalation, data exfiltration, and impact demonstration. Scoped by crown jewel target, not compliance checkbox.
Assumed Breach Exercises
Starting from authenticated initial access, we test the security controls that matter most: detection of lateral movement, prevention of privilege escalation, protection of crown jewel systems, and incident response effectiveness.
Purple Team Operations
Red and blue team working collaboratively — red team executing TTPs while blue team detects, responds, and improves in real time. Produces measurable improvements in detection coverage rather than just a vulnerability report.
Physical Security Assessment
Physical perimeter bypass, lock picking and bypass, badge cloning, tailgating assessment, clean desk review, dumpster diving intelligence gathering, and physical workstation access.
OT/ICS Red Teaming
Adversary simulation in operational technology environments — SCADA attack simulation, PLC compromise demonstration, OT lateral movement, and impact scenario planning for industrial and critical infrastructure.
Crown Jewel Risk Assessment
Targeted exercise to determine whether a specific asset — customer database, financial records, intellectual property, or operational system — can be compromised by a motivated threat actor.
Next-generation adversary simulation
AI-augmented red teaming
Modern adversaries increasingly use AI — for spear phishing at scale, AI-generated malware, and automated vulnerability discovery. Our red team engagements incorporate AI-augmented attack techniques to simulate the capabilities of modern, well-resourced threat actors. We also offer AI system red teaming, specifically targeting AI-powered products, AI decision systems, and LLM-integrated applications as part of a broader red team scope, mapped to the OWASP LLM Top 10 2026 and Agentic (ASI) Top 10 where the system in scope is AI-native.
In scope
What we handle
- Full red team — multi-vector, objective-based adversary campaign
- Assumed breach — lateral movement and escalation from specified initial access
- Purple team — collaborative red/blue exercise with detection capability development
- Threat intelligence-led red teaming, adapted from TIBER-EU methodology
- APT simulation — sector-specific threat actor TTP replication
- Crown jewels assessment — targeted attack on critical assets
- Detection and response capability assessment
- Physical red team — premises intrusion and physical security assessment
- Supply chain attack simulation — third-party and vendor attack paths
- AI system red teaming — LLM, ML model, and AI pipeline targeting
- Executive targeting simulation — CEO fraud, deepfake-assisted attacks
- Zero-day simulation — assuming access via an undisclosed vulnerability
Client outcomes
Measurable results
The complete attack chain length in our NBFC case study, from a single email to domain admin.
A 6-week financial services red team went undetected for over three weeks — the exact gap a purple team phase closes.
CEH, OSCP, CISM, CCSP, and ISO 27001 Lead Auditor — credentials boards and regulators expect from security assessments.
In our NBFC case study, the subsequent RBI inspection found no significant IT security issues.
How we operate
Four phases from scoping to debrief
A disciplined red team methodology producing commercially relevant findings documented under legal privilege.
Threat intelligence & scoping
Crown jewel identification, threat actor profiling relevant to your sector, attack path hypothesis development, rules of engagement definition, and legal engagement letter confirming privilege protection.
Week 1Adversary simulation
Multi-stage attack execution — reconnaissance, initial access attempts, persistence establishment, lateral movement, privilege escalation, and crown jewel access demonstration. All activity documented with timestamps.
Weeks 2–4Analysis & legal risk mapping
Technical findings analysis, attack path documentation, detection gap identification, blue team performance assessment, and legal risk mapping of each finding to regulatory, contractual, and liability implications.
Week 4–5Debrief & remediation
Technical debrief for security team, executive debrief for leadership and board, prioritised remediation roadmap, and purple team follow-up option to validate detection improvements before the engagement closes.
Week 5–6Case study · Financial services red team
NBFC discovers core banking system reachable from public internet in 4 steps
A Hyderabad NBFC commissioned a full-scope red team engagement before an RBI inspection. SIRI's red team achieved domain administrator access within 6 days via a phishing email, compromised service account, Active Directory misconfiguration, and lateral movement — reaching the core banking system in 4 steps from the initial phishing email.
The finding was documented under privilege and remediated before the RBI inspection, which subsequently found no significant IT security issues — a direct result of the vulnerability being closed in advance rather than discovered by the regulator first.
Representative matters
Typical engagements
All matters described generically to protect client confidentiality.
Detection occurred on day 23
Conducted a 6-week full red team engagement against a financial services firm, achieving access to core banking systems through a combination of spear phishing, credential theft, and Active Directory exploitation. Detection occurred on day 23 of the engagement.
Supply chain access to clinical systems
Simulated a healthcare-sector APT group's TTPs against a hospital group, achieving access to clinical systems and patient records through a supply chain attack via a compromised third-party remote access tool.
Source code access via exposed credentials
Targeted assessment against a technology company's source code repositories and customer data, demonstrating access via a combination of exposed credentials in public GitHub repositories and a misconfigured CI/CD pipeline.
Prompt injection exfiltrated shared RAG data
Conducted an AI system red team against an enterprise AI platform, demonstrating how prompt injection in user-supplied content could be used to exfiltrate other users' data from the shared RAG context.
Why SIRI
Red teaming backed by legal authority and incident response
A red team finding is only valuable if you can act on it. SIRI's integrated legal and technical practice means every critical finding is accompanied by a legal risk assessment and a remediation pathway, not just a CVSS score.
All findings under legal privilege
Red team findings, particularly crown jewel access demonstrations, are some of the most sensitive documents an organisation can possess. SIRI documents all findings under attorney-client privilege, protecting them from subpoena in regulatory investigations and litigation.
Threat-intelligence driven TTPs
Our red team builds attack simulations from current threat intelligence, replicating the specific TTPs of threat actors known to target your sector, not a generic MITRE ATT&CK playbook applied without context.
CEH, OSCP, CISM certified team
SIRI's red team holds industry-recognised certifications including CEH, OSCP, CISM, CCSP, and ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, providing the technical credibility that boards and regulators expect from security assessments.
Incident response ready
When a red team exercise reveals a critical finding requiring immediate remediation, SIRI's incident response and legal team can be activated simultaneously, transitioning from assessment to response without a hand-off gap.
The comparison
Without SIRI versus with SIRI
| Capability | Standard penetration testing | SIRI Security Red Team |
|---|---|---|
| Attack path construction | Individual vulnerabilities identified in isolation | Multi-stage attack simulation chains weaknesses into complete attack paths |
| Scope basis | Compliance-driven — VAPT certificate rather than honest crown-jewel assessment | Crown jewel-targeted — the specific assets a sophisticated threat actor would target |
| Blue team testing | Controls assessed in isolation, never validated against a simulated attack | Detection and response capabilities stress-tested under realistic adversary conditions |
| Finding protection | Not protected by attorney-client privilege — discoverable in investigations and litigation | Every finding documented under legal privilege from engagement start |
Frequently asked
Red teaming, answered directly
What is the difference between a red team and a penetration test?
A penetration test identifies and exploits vulnerabilities in specific systems within a defined scope. A red team engagement simulates a complete attack — from the attacker's initial access attempt through to crown jewel compromise — testing the organisation's people, processes, and technology holistically. Red teams use all attack vectors available to a real adversary.
Is there an official Indian equivalent to Europe's TIBER-EU red teaming framework?
Not as a formally notified RBI scheme under a "TIBER-IN" name. What exists is TIBER-EU, developed by the European Central Bank as a threat-intelligence-led red teaming standard for financial entities, which Indian red team providers commonly adapt for the Indian regulatory context, mapping scenarios and threat intelligence to RBI's own Cyber Security Framework and IT Governance Master Direction expectations rather than to a distinct notified Indian standard. SIRI's engagements use this TIBER-EU-derived methodology, adapted to the specific threat actors and regulatory expectations relevant to Indian financial entities, rather than claiming certification under a scheme that does not formally exist.
How do you avoid disrupting our production systems during a red team engagement?
Rules of engagement are agreed before any activity begins, defining prohibited actions (no ransomware simulation, no data destruction, no actions affecting operational system availability), out-of-scope systems, and safety breakpoints. Our red team maintains real-time communication with your designated liaison throughout the engagement.
Should our security team know a red team engagement is happening?
It depends on what you are testing. Unannounced engagements test realistic detection and response. Announced engagements allow the blue team to observe and improve in real time (purple team model). Both have value — SIRI advises on the appropriate model based on your maturity level and specific objectives.
What certifications does the SIRI red team hold?
SIRI's red team holds CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker), OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional), CISM (Certified Information Security Manager), CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional), and ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, providing the technical credibility that regulators and enterprise procurement teams require.
Are red team findings covered by attorney-client privilege?
Yes. All SIRI Security assessments are conducted under engagement letters that establish attorney-client privilege over findings. Red team reports, vulnerability demonstrations, and crown jewel access evidence generally cannot be subpoenaed in CERT-In investigations, RBI inspections, SEBI enquiries, or civil litigation.
Ready when you are
Your defences haven't been tested until they've been tested by a real attack.
Book a confidential red team assessment with SIRI Security. We will simulate a sophisticated threat actor targeting your crown jewels, and document every finding under attorney-client privilege.
Related services
Other ways SIRI Law LLP tests and protects your defences
Cybersecurity testing services
Full portfolio — application, cloud, network, IoT, and AI/LLM security testing.
Banking & finance law
RBI regulatory advisory and inspection preparation for financial institutions.
Ransomware & crisis legal response
24/7 emergency response if red team findings reveal an active compromise.
Visit or contact us
SIRI Law LLP — Hyderabad, India
| Registered office | HITEC City, Madhapur, Hyderabad, Telangana 500081, India |
| Telephone | +91 79819 12046 |
| info@sirilawllp.com | |
| Other offices | New Delhi, India · Austin, Texas, USA · Online worldwide |
| Hours | Mon–Sat, 9:30 AM – 7:00 PM IST · Emergency line 24/7 |