Purple Teaming in 2026: From Assumed Protection to Measurable Resilience
Rapid7, Tuesday, March 10th, 2026
Purple teaming is often described as the collaboration between red teams and blue teams. That definition is accurate, but incomplete. At its core, purple teaming is about exposure validation: deliberately testing whether the threats you believe you can detect and contain are actually visible in your environment.
Red teams simulate attacker behavior. Blue teams defend and respond. Purple teaming ensures those two functions operate in lockstep, sharing telemetry, assumptions, and findings to strengthen detection coverage and close control gaps.