The Challenge

A large education-sector organisation sought independent assurance that its cyber security capability was proportionate to its size, operational complexity, and risk exposure. While a range of security controls were already in place, senior stakeholders wanted confidence that these measures would perform effectively under real-world conditions, not just on paper.

Specifically, the organisation wanted to validate whether its endpoint protection could withstand modern attack techniques and to assess how well its third-party managed Security Operations Centre (SOC) could detect, investigate, and respond to genuine attacker behaviour. The objective was to move beyond theoretical control coverage and gain a practical, evidence-based understanding of how a security incident would be identified, escalated, and handled in reality.

The Solution

Drawing on Aristi’s in-house Threat Intelligence (TI) capability, the Red Team identified phishing as a highly credible and relevant initial access vector for the organisation’s threat profile. Based on this insight, Aristi designed a controlled red team exercise that closely mirrored tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) observed in active threat actor campaigns targeting the education sector.

The engagement began with a targeted phishing campaign and progressed through realistic post-compromise activity, allowing Aristi to test technical controls, user susceptibility, and attacker progression within the environment. To maximise learning and insight, the exercise incorporated de-chaining and re-commencement under an assumed breach scenario. This approach enabled Aristi to thoroughly evaluate monitoring, alerting, escalation, and incident response processes across both the organisation’s internal teams and its managed SOC, without being constrained by a single attack path.

Throughout the engagement, Aristi worked closely with stakeholders to ensure the exercise was safe, proportionate, and aligned to operational realities, while still delivering an authentic adversary simulation.

The Outcome

The Red Team exercise delivered clear, actionable insight into the organisation’s true security posture. Aristi identified a number of technical configuration weaknesses that could be leveraged by an attacker, alongside opportunities to enhance detection logic, response workflows, and decision-making during security incidents.

Importantly, the organisation gained a realistic view of how a determined attacker could progress through its environment, where existing controls were effective, and where targeted improvements would have the greatest impact on risk reduction. The findings enabled informed prioritisation of remediation activities and provided tangible assurance to leadership that investment in security controls and SOC services was being critically evaluated against real-world threats.

By combining threat intelligence-led planning, realistic adversary emulation, and clear, professional reporting, Aristi delivered meaningful assurance and helped the organisation strengthen its cyber resilience in a practical and measurable way.