Automated Adversarial Emulation Helps Security Teams Reduce Detection and Response Rates


Adversarial emulation (AE) mimics an attacker’s behavior to identify and measure the effectiveness of security controls. It can help reduce detection and response rates, validate controls, and optimize resources by allowing teams to prioritize vulnerabilities and concentrate on the highest risk issues to the business. This article will explore how automated adversarial emulation can help security teams reduce detection and response times and will examine a new announcement from SCYTHE, a leader in adversarial emulation.

An AE platform is a powerful tool for security teams because it enables them to experience what a security event will look like without risk to the organization.  

Automated adversarial emulation can help you:

  • Reduce detection and response rates
  • Validate controls
  • Optimize resources
  • Focus on the highest risk issues to the business.

AE exercises are essential for red teams, allowing them to test their abilities and skills in a realistic setting. By performing AE, red teams can focus on trying out activities that threats would use to infiltrate their network. This exercise provides guidelines and a roadmap to follow as they attempt to conquer the blue team’s defenses.

Carrying out AE exercises helps blue teams stay focused on remediation and work in the places where it’s most necessary. Adversary emulation helps blue teams identify and mitigate their most significant vulnerabilities at a faster pace.

Adversary emulation is vital to establishing a purple team within your security group. This is because adversary emulation enables red and blue teamers to work more effectively by bridging the gap between the two groups. Additionally, it strengthens the entire organization’s security posture by helping both teams better understand how adversaries operate.

SCYTHE announced the release of version 4.0 of its flagship cybersecurity platform, which offers enhanced features and functionality that extend capabilities for greater collaboration between blue, red, and purple teams. Its platform automates adversary emulations and expands your team’s threat intelligence skills so that you can multiply your cybersecurity team’s velocity and reduce cybersecurity risk. The company has the most threats in the breach attack simulation industry, and its platform has extensive capabilities.

SCYTHE 4.0 has a redesigned UI that makes it easier to manage threats by bringing campaign details to the surface, allowing for enhanced communication between team members. It also makes it simpler to take action via Jira integrations. SCYTHE 4.0 is available as an on-prem or SaaS offering and is designed to help security teams collaborate on adversary emulation as a purple team.

“The new SCYTHE 4.0 platform sets a new standard for adversary emulation automation for offensive, defensive, and hybrid purple teams to help customers strengthen defenses, share actionable data between teams to better resolve real-world cybersecurity concerns quickly, and improve collaboration,” said Stephanie Simpson, VP, Product. “Version 4.0 is based on feedback from our customers and prospects about what they need to optimize their teams’ breach and attack simulation (BAS) capabilities.”

SCYTHE version 4.0 was designed to enhance collaboration within security teams and improve the user experience. These updates include:

  • Collaboration features — SCYTHE enables greater collaboration between blue, red, and purple teams to create and leverage existing adversary emulation plans. The updated, user-friendly dashboard displays the outcomes and severity of campaign results. Users can have different access levels to develop and personalize realistic attacks or re-run existing attacks. In-platform messaging now allows for better and faster communication between users.
  • Workflow automation — Users can take a more collaborative team approach and seamlessly share actionable insights through a Jira integration.
  • SaaS and on-prem — Previously an exclusively on-prem solution, SCYTHE 4.0 now has a SaaS offering to provide flexibility to customers in any environment.

SCYTHE 4.0 will be available for customers in Q4.

About SCYTHE

SCYTHE is like hiring the hacker you always wanted but could never afford. SCYTHE transforms your organization’s capabilities and defines a new technology category: Attack, Detect and Respond to integrate cybersecurity risk management across people, processes, and technology. The SCYTHE 4.0 platform enables collaboration between red, blue, and purple teams to build and emulate real-world adversarial campaigns. Customers can easily and quickly validate their business and employees’ risk posture and exposure and the performance of enterprise security teams and existing security solutions. Based in Arlington, VA, the company is privately held and is funded by Energy Impact Partners (EIP), Gula Tech Adventures, Paladin Capital, Evolution Equity, and private industry investors. For more information, email info@scythe.io, visit https://scythe.io, or follow SCYTHE on Twitter @scythe_io.


Steven Bowcut is an award-winning journalist covering cyber and physical security. He is an editor and writer for Brilliance Security Magazine as well as other security and non-security online publications. Follow and connect with Steve on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.