SSQ.AISSQ.AI

Threat-Led Penetration Testing (TLPT)

Red team testing led by threat intelligence

We design scenarios from the threats relevant to you and test detection and response through a controlled red team exercise.

The yardstick is not a generic attack but the methods used by threat actors who target your organisation and industry. Threat analysis, scenario design, the controlled exercise and the review run as one piece of work, and where a supervisor or parent company sets a framework, we confirm its requirements first.

If the attackers relevant to us came for real, how would the organisation respond?

Prevention, detection and response, tested with scenarios grounded in threat intelligence.

Reviewed

Threat intel Threat actors Their methods Your sector Scenario design Controlled run Detect & respond Joint review Fix, re-check agreed scope, safety, stop criteria
Scenarios drawn from threat intelligence run under agreed controls, and the detection and response results feed improvement.

When it fits

  • You want to test against the threats that are relevant to you

    Rather than generic attack assumptions, you want to test your defences against the threat actors and methods relevant to your organisation and industry.

  • You have been asked to test under a specific framework

    A supervisor or parent organisation requires threat-led testing under a defined framework. We confirm that framework's roles and requirements first.

  • You want threat findings to lead into validation

    You want the signs and attacker behaviour found in a threat investigation to become the basis of a real response test. Exposure Intelligence

How it runs

  1. Scope and framework

    We agree targets and objectives, whether a framework applies, and which part of it SAFE SQUARE takes on.

  2. Threat analysis

    We analyse the threat actors and attack methods relevant to your organisation and industry, recording where the evidence comes from and its limits.

  3. Scenario design

    From that analysis we set realistic scenarios, objectives, and safety and stop criteria.

  4. Controlled run

    The red team exercise runs within the agreed scope and controls, and prevention, detection and response are recorded at each stage.

  5. Review and improve

    We review the results with the teams involved, agree what to improve, and leave the items to check again.

When a framework applies

TIBER-EU, for example, is a controlled red-teaming framework that uses tailored threat intelligence to test people, processes and technology.

Such frameworks set their own roles, controls and reporting, and some set requirements for the providers who take part. We confirm these before starting and state exactly which part SAFE SQUARE takes on. Recognition under the framework, and any supervisory judgement, rest with the bodies concerned.

What you receive

The threat basis for the scenarios, a record of detection and response, and the improvements to make next.

Threat basis

Which threat actors and methods the scenarios were built on, with the sources, timing and limits of that information.

Detection and response record

What was blocked, detected and reported at each stage, and how the organisation responded.

Improvements and follow-up checks

Improvements agreed with the teams involved, and what to check again afterwards.