Purple Team Exercises as a Training Mechanism for SOC Analyst Development

What Did This Cybersecurity Research Find?

This cybersecurity training study evaluated purple team exercises as a SOC analyst development tool across 6 organizations. Cybersecurity analysts who participated in monthly purple team sessions improved threat detection accuracy by 32% and developed a significantly better understanding of attacker methodologies.

Key Findings

• 1Analysts in monthly purple team exercises improved detection accuracy by 32%
• 2Understanding of MITRE ATT&CK techniques improved by 44% after 6 months of purple team participation
• 3Analysts reported that seeing attacks from the adversary perspective was the most valuable learning element
• 4Purple team trained analysts wrote 28% more effective detection rules
• 5The cost per analyst for purple team training was comparable to sending analysts to external conferences

How Does This Apply to Cybersecurity Careers?

SOC analysts can advocate for purple team participation as professional development. Managers can use purple teaming as both an operational improvement and training investment.

Who Should Read This?

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